Bundesliga
Jovic “wants Champions League football with Eintracht”
Luka Jovic has reiterated his desire to continue his prolific goalscoring spell at Eintracht Frankfurt, with qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League an objective.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Jovic’s father Milan explained that the striker “wants to reach the Champions League with Eintracht and extend his stay in Frankfurt”.
It follows a previous interview with the paper where Jovic Jr. himself had said, “if Eintracht get into the Champions League then no one will take me from here.”
The Serbia international has quickly found a home for himself in Germany’s financial capital since arriving on a two-year loan from Benfica in 2017, scoring 33 goals in 65 competitive appearances for Eintracht. He’s netted 25 of those in the Bundesliga, including 17 this season alone to put him second in the race for the Torjägerkanone behind Robert Lewandowski.
Watch: All Luka Jovic's goals so far
Jovic’s father puts part of that down to his son’s close relationship with his teammates. “He’s very friendly with the other Balkan lads in the team,” Milan said in reference to fellow Serbians Filip Kostic, Mijat Gacinovic, and Croatian FIFA World Cup runner-up Ante Rebic.
Another part of the equation is because the 21-year-old is getting the playing time he wants.. “He told me, ‘dad, it’s not about money, I just want to play football’,” Milan added. And that is what Jovic has had, at first under Niko Kovac and now Adi Hütter, featuring in all but two of Frankfurt’s 40 matches in all competitions this season.
His 17 goals and five assists in 26 Bundesliga games has put Eintracht on the verge of achieving that dream of playing Champions League football with the club. Frankfurt sit fourth with six games remaining, having yet to lose a match in 2019. No Bundesliga team with the Eagles’ total of 52 points from 28 games has ever failed to finish in the top four, while 119 of the 123 sides with at least that amount have ended the season in a position that would see Eintracht automatically qualify for the Champions League.
Frankfurt, of course, have another route into continental football’s premier club competition, should they win this season’s UEFA Europa League. Jovic has netted another seven goals in that tournament, including the winner in the round of 16 against Inter Milan. Now he faces his parent club, Benfica, in the quarter-finals as Eintracht bid for a second European trophy and the striker looks to add to the DFB Cup he lifted in Berlin last season.