Everything seems to come at the right time for those who know how to wait. Kevin Trapp won’t say otherwise, as he will play his first European final on Wednesday with Eintracht Frankfurt, who he joined in 2018 after difficult years at Paris Saint-Germain. “I’ve only played one final in my career, the French Cup final (2-0 win over Les Herbiers in 2018, editor’s note), but I haven’t gone into an international final. It’s something very special,” the 31-year-old goalkeeper is excited about, who found in Frankfurt the leadership role he needed to flourish in full.
This season, the number one player in Eintracht has taken another step. The blow came at the beginning of October, during a landslide victory over Bayern Munich (2-1). In a state of delicacy, the Bavarian striker Trapp complacently kept his side in the match, even as teammate Philip Kostik’s goal in the 83rd minute win.And the moment.
A new beginning
“This game really made him grow. This performance, which remained in the annals, was a turning point for him,” recalls the Frankfurt daily FAZ before the final on Wednesday in Seville. An emblematic figure for the club, having first arrived in 2012, at the age of 21, the man is prized for his always calm but firm speaking, and his ability to manage difficult situations.
And if he doesn’t wear the armband, he is nonetheless “the captain of the locker room,” in the words of his coach Oliver Glasner.
His aura with his teammates comes from his personal talents. Whoever admits that at first in Paris he struggled with not speaking French, he is now fluent in five languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and a little Italian. “It helps me connect better with the new players. If I can help someone feel good, I will do it,” he says.
After three years at Paris Saint-Germain (2015-2018), he spent only a season and a half there, before losing his place to Alphonse Areola.
The experience was difficult, but he realized that working daily with figures like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva or Marquinhos was an opportunity: “There were things to be learned from these players, he said. It helped me a lot to progress and now I am trying to take to Frankfurt what I took there. “.
His return to Frankfurt was a new beginning. “For me, he admits, it was important to get to a club where I can continue to develop personally. Everyone knows and sees what this club means to me. This environment, the fans, everything we experience here is not present in many clubs.
vegan products
His serenity, this stern professional cultivates it thanks to life outside of football. A fan of motorcycles, he also launched a vegan product company: “I need other things, he says, that make me disconnect from everyday stress and can think about. Whatever is important to me to enjoy, in the end, helps me be better on the field.”
In the German Bundesliga this season, Frankfurt is modestly 11thAnd position, but in the Europa League the team showed its character, with three setbacks in the final seconds along the way, as well as a stunning 3-1 win over Barcelona in the quarter-final second leg. Each time, Trab was flawless both in his cage and in his role as the captain of the backlines.
These talents, both on and off the field, give him the strength to be the third goalkeeper for the German national team at the World Cup in Qatar, behind Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre ter Stegen. For now, however, he refuses to even raise the issue. His only horizon is the final against Rangers.
