After the disaster at Eintracht Frankfurt and a full-blown scandal: Albert Riera is set to become the new manager of a major traditional club
His time at Eintracht Frankfurt was extremely unsuccessful. Now Albert Riera is on the verge of a new role at a traditional club.
According to Sportklub in Serbia, Riera is set to take over as Red Star Belgrade head coach shortly. Dejan Stankovic recently announced his resignation after they missed out in Champions League qualifying against Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
During the 2-0 defeat, the former world-class player, who turned out for Lazio, Inter Milan and Red Star, completely lost control after referee Glenn Nyberg turned down a penalty claim for a foul with the score at 0-0 and showed him a red card.
Stankovic is said to have spat in the direction of the official and then, on his way down the tunnel, further turned his own fans against him with provocative gestures. Red Star conceded the 1-0 shortly after Stankovic's outburst and the 2-0 just under ten minutes later. He is also said to have announced his resignation to his team in the dressing room after the final whistle.
Later that same night, president Zvezdan Terzic confirmed the split. "He cannot allow himself such behaviour and such a red card with the score at 0-0." A successor has to be registered with UEFA by Friday, and that successor will apparently be Albert Riera.
The 44-year-old is set to sign a two-year contract in Belgrade and could be presented as early as Thursday. Most recently, Riera failed spectacularly in the Bundesliga in his attempt to get Eintracht Frankfurt back on the road to success.
Riera caused a scandal after sacking at Eintracht Frankfurt
Back in February, he took over from the sacked Dino Toppmöller, but within a few weeks he had fallen out with large parts of the squad, including senior players such as Mario Götze and Jonathan Burkardt. He also repeatedly caused a stir with highly questionable appearances at press conferences.
After only four wins from 14 matches and missing out on international football, the club parted company with Riera at the end of the season. He evidently did not want to simply accept that and carry the blame alone for Frankfurt's decline. In mid-July, he hit out in sometimes fierce terms at the Frankfurt club hierarchy around board spokesman Axel Hellmann in an Instagram story.
On Instagram, Riera posted a picture of himself with sporting director Markus Krösche and wrote by way of introduction: "These are the only two people who were at the club from morning to night and made an effort to get rid of the chaos inside and out, Markus Krösche and me!!! Nobody else!"
The 44-year-old Spaniard then attacked Hellmann in grammatically patchy English. "I will not say your name (the person I have only seen twice), because you are a nobody, completely unknown, and you have achieved nothing," Riera wrote.
Before that, Hellmann had given an interview to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which he criticised the former Eintracht coach. "I was surprised by how little willing he was to engage with the Bundesliga, this club and the whole environment," Hellmann said, among other things.
