Albert Riera’s final days at Eintracht Frankfurt continue to entertain.
The Spaniard has been somewhat of a disaster since moving to the Bundesliga, and Frankfurt look set to miss out on Europe and sack the coach.
Riera signed until 2028 despite his massive lack of experience, and hasn’t hit the right notes since signing.
Bizarre press conferences have been met with boring performances, and now he’s reached end times due to crises on the pitch.
Having already alienated Mario Gotze, Riera reportedly upset summer signing Jonathan Burkardt.
Burkardt was a massive get for Frankfurt having had an amazing season for Mainz in 2024/25, joining for €22million.
However, his minutes started becoming limited in 2026, and reports claimed Riera was upset with his body-fat percentage during training tests.
The coach called the reports ‘total bulls***’, but Frankfurt refused to comment, and then things spiralled.
During defeat to Borussia Dortmund last time out, Burkardt scored and could be seen angrily gesturing to the coach on the touchline.
BILD claimed he called the coach a ‘son of a b****’ in his native Spanish, but Riera didn’t see it, until Burkardt followed up in front of the whole team.
BILD claimed a €20,000 fine for the striker, which Riera more or less confirmed in what was likely his final pre-match press conference as Frankfurt manager.
“Anyone who doesn’t follow the rules gets punished,” he said. “He accepted that and apologised.
“That’s the most important thing for me. Especially because of our many young players; they need to know the rules.”
However, Riera was more angry at the story going public, adding: “Do you know what I had for breakfast this morning?
“This is a big problem in a club. These kinds of internal disciplinary matters have to stay between us – like in any company.
“It doesn’t make me personally angry, but it’s very sad for the club.”
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