'It's that simple' - Laura Freigang on staying in Frankfurt amid Barcelona & Chelsea links, Eintracht's first-ever Women's Champions League campaign and shocking Juventus to get there

It was fresh off the back of a 4-0 win over Wolfsburg, last season’s Champions League finalists and then-reigning German champions, that the speculation really started to swirl. Freigang had just scored her 16th and 17th goals of the campaign in a shock thrashing of a team that, with a couple of weeks of the season remaining, was still trying to battle Bayern Munich for the league title. It was a result that not only all-but-ended Wolfsburg’s hopes of retaining that trophy, but also one that secured Frankfurt’s place in the top three and, in turn, entry to the qualifying rounds of the 2023-24 Champions League.

That was the Sunday. As soon as the following Tuesday, a report emerged that Freigang was attracting the interest of six of the biggest clubs in Europe. But despite the prestige and allure of those names, the 25-year-old never had a desire to leave Frankfurt.

“I think it's really good if you can stick to something and if you have a place where it means something to you,” she tells GOAL, speaking at Under Armour’s pop-up experience in Frankfurt to mark the launch of its ColdGear Baselayer. Freigang is one of the faces of the brand, one she got onboard with after conversations made it evident the pair shared the “same values”.

“Right now, we have games every few days,” Freigang adds. “I can't always just be motivated on my myself and my own goals. I also play for my team-mates and the people that I love working with. That's just my opinion on it. I love being at Frankfurt because I like the people, I like the city, I like the club and that means a lot to me.”

Freigang was in no mood to allow that speculation to grow, either. Almost immediately after the reports came out, she took to Instagram to issue her subtle response, posting a photo that showed off a ‘069’ tattoo on her arm, that being Frankfurt’s phone number code.

It was a refreshing way to tackle the rumours and a message that clearly underlined the forward’s commitment to Eintracht, as well as a bit of entertainment to kick-off the chaos of transfer season.

“I thought it was funny that there was so much talking going on and I didn't want to heat up the talk because I felt like, 'I'm here and I want to stay here, so I might as well give a little hint',” Freigang explains. “As a player, you can profit out of the situation where everybody thinks you might be leaving, but I didn't want to do that. I didn't want any confusion. That was very spontaneous.”

It’s no wonder Freigang is enjoying herself in Frankfurt. Since arriving here five years ago, the forward has scored at least 10 goals every season. The early stages of this campaign suggest she’s well on her way to do it for a sixth time in succession, too. What is it that allows her to thrive? Well, it links back to how much she is enjoying her time with Eintracht.

“I think for me personally, it's all about feeling comfortable and feeling happy where I am and that's definitely the case for Frankfurt,” she says. “I play best when I have fun on the pitch so Frankfurt is a great place for me to be because I feel comfortable and happy here and then I play my best football.”

Freigang is one of several top performers helping this team return to where it belongs, too. As FFC Frankfurt, the club won seven league titles, triumphed nine times in the DFB-Pokal and lifted the Champions League trophy on four occasions. But as an independent women’s team, the changing landscape of the sport and the increased involvement of clubs with much bigger finances saw their status as one of Europe’s best slip away.

In 2020, the club merged with Eintracht and now it is working towards re-establishing Frankfurt in the women’s game. After reaching the DFB-Pokal final in 2021, the club has finished in the Bundesliga's top three in the last two seasons.

“When I was younger, it was the biggest club and then when I got to the club, we weren't the biggest club anymore,” Freigang recalls. “I made the whole transition, merging with Eintracht and more money being invested and now our whole standard is changing.

“We train on the actual men's training side now and we get our own facility and all that is very important, but I also can remember how it was different before. So, I value that I get to see that transition and I can really appreciate everything that's happening right now because I know how it was before.”

Reaching this season’s Champions League group stages is another big step forward, then. It’s the first time that the club will feature so prominently in the competition as Eintracht, having fallen in the qualifying rounds to Ajax last season – and in heart-breaking fashion, the Dutch side scoring a 92nd-minute winner.

Frankfurt exorcised those demons this year, though. Given another very tough draw against Juventus, after beating Czech side Slovacko 1-0, they shocked the Italian giants with a dramatic penalty shootout win that was decided in sudden death.

“It was a really close game but that's like typical Eintracht Frankfurt a little bit,” Freigang says. “After being really unlucky the year before, and that was really frustrating, it meant that much more. We were so relieved. Obviously, you have to get a bit lucky as well, but that's fine. We'll take it. We're just really excited to play on the biggest stage there is in women's football.

“We didn't just make it into the group stage by playing small opponents, so it means that much more. I think [beating Juventus] showed that we are playing on a really high level and before we were only able to show that in the Bundesliga. We have a lot of games now, when we play Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich, where you can tell how far we've come over the last few years, and we just want to show that in the Champions League as well.”

That clash with Juventus was only a sign of things to come. When the group-stage draw was made in October, Eintracht couldn’t have been pooled with a bigger opponent. On Wednesday evening, the Eagles welcome Barcelona, the European champions and arguably the best team on the planet right now, to Deutsche Bank Park. It’ll be their first home game in this competition and it promises to be quite the occasion.

“I love being the underdog and I think you're always the underdog when you play Barcelona and are competing with the best players in the world,” Freigang says. “We have nothing to lose. We already won by getting them in the group stage and I'm just very excited to just be there, experience it all, soak it up, obviously try my hardest and then we'll see what happens.”

It's part of a bigger challenge that Frankfurt are facing this season. Playing every three days is something Barca are used to at this point. They’ve got a squad brimming with world-class talent that knows all about it and can handle it. For Eintracht, it’s all new.

“It's tough, playing three competitions,” Freigang says. “We’re only playing in the Champions League because we played a really good Bundesliga season the year before and we're trying to do both now at the same time, play Champions League and then also play every game well in the Bundesliga. But that's professional football. Obviously, it's a challenge.”

But such challenges also bring great opportunities. Alongside Frankfurt and Barcelona in this group are Rosengard and Benfica. The Catalans are certainly the favourites for top spot – and the entire competition, even – but the race to join them in the knockout rounds is wide open.

“I think it's a battle for second place, for sure,” Freigang says. “It will be tough. For us, it's also the first year of playing a game every three or four days but, so far, we're really enjoying it. We've looked forward to it for so long that now it's a no-brainer that we're just having fun doing it.”

Playing in the Champions League, against teams with the profile and quality of Barca, also puts Eintracht on a stage quite unlike any they’ve experienced – even as FFC Frankfurt. There will be more eyes and attention on this team and these players than ever before, and that brings with it a chance to really shine. For people that have not seen the Eagles play before, what can they expect?

“I think we play exciting football, we have a lot of qualities upfront, we almost always score and, on top of that, I think we're really hard working,” Freigang says. “We're a great group of friends, basically, and I think you see that on a pitch as well. We all work hard for each other and I think, for any fan, I think that's always very fun. I think we'll show that in the Champions League, for sure.”

This is a team that scored more league goals last season than Arsenal, Paris-Saint Germain, Manchester City and Manchester United, and Freigang is a big part of why they’re such great entertainers. After all, there’s a reason Europe’s biggest clubs were keeping tabs on her – and the continent’s biggest competition is about to find out why.