Eintracht Frankfurt bosses back Kaua Santos after blunder

Kauã Santos received backing from Eintracht Frankfurt’s sporting director Markus Krösche and head coach Dino Toppmöller after failing to stop Vincenzo Grifo’s late free-kick against Freiburg.

Eintracht Frankfurt sporting CEO Markus Krösche has backed Kaua Santos after the Brazilian goalkeeper made a mistake that led to Freiburg’s late 2-2 equaliser on Sunday.

On Sunday, Santos’ placement in goal left him exposed, allowing Vincenzo Grifo to score from a free kick at the near post.

The 22-year-old has now conceded 18 goals in five games since taking over as first-choice goalkeeper from Michael Zetterer following a long injury layoff.

Krösche acknowledged that Santos has made mistakes but emphasized that they are part of his development.

“As a young goalkeeper, he’s allowed to make mistakes. Of course, these were very unfortunate games. But he has to go through this – it’s part of his development,” Krösche told Bild.

“There’s no question about his current role. I’m not going to start a goalkeeper debate now. He’s a young goalkeeper who makes mistakes – and they are punished. We have to live with that.”

Head coach Dino Toppmöller admitted his frustration over the error, but highlighted that Santos put in a solid performance overall.

“Of course, you have to talk about the situation and that he needs to handle it better. Either put another player in the wall or defend the near post. It’s frustrating,” he said.

“Nevertheless, in the 95th minute he still made a very good save to keep out Ginter’s effort. Overall, he played a solid game – but over 90 minutes, you have to remain error-free to deliver a top-level performance.”