EINTRACHT FRANKFURT VS. LIVERPOOL
| Wednesday, October 22nd |
Champions League, League Phase | Frankfurt Stadion
8PM BST/3PM EST
Frankfurt manager Dino Toppmöller insisted he and his side would not underestimate Liverpool despite the recent
string of losses. His side, it should be said, have had their own recent struggles, conceding more goals than they would want (good news, perhaps, to a Liverpool side struggling with finishing): Frankfurt have scored 30 in their first 10 matches of the season, but they’ve conceded 24. Jonathan Burkhardt is their in-form man, having scored six in six.
The German side are without wins in any of their four meetings against English sides, losing two and draws. Liverpool have faced Frankfurt only once before, going through 2-1 on aggregate in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup first round — and the Reds went on to win the trophy. The German club are relative newcomers on this stage, only previously competing in the Champions League in the 2022/23 season, going out in the Round of 16 as Europa League holders, making the quarter finals of that competition last season. For those of us who don’t count the start of the competition with the Champions League rebrand, it’s notable that Frankfurt were the first German side to reach a European Cup final, though they lost it to Real Madrid in 1960 (we can relate).
The German side have had a blockbuster set of matches in the league phase thus far, winning 5-1 on matchday 1 to the Galatasaray side who saw out Liverpool 1-0 on matchday two. In their own second match, though, Frankfurt lost 5-1 to Atletí, making this quite an intriguing matchup. They currently sit seventh in the Bundesliga, having won just three matches (D1 L3) — though they’d note that both Leverkusen and Bayern Munich feature in the loss column.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wirtz, Jones, Szoboszlai; Frimpong, Isak, Gakpo
Benching Mohamed Salah would be a big call, and realistically it’s unlikely to happen. Arne Slot has shown himself to be more ruthless than some other coaches, however, and Salah’s performances have not quite been up to par (despite the Egyptian having played a couple of good balls in that were not finished — others’ finishing issues are not his responsibility, even if he’s embroiled in his own). Florian Wirtz had a good showing against Manchester United even if his efforts once again came to naught, but Slot might consider playing Wirtz and former teammate Jeremie Frimpong due to their familiarity with Frankfurt. For his part, Mohamed Salah is two goals away from being the first African player to score 50 goals in the Champions League; the next goal scored will bring Liverpool as a club to 300 total scored as the away team in European competition.
Benching Salah feels a bit unlikely, and is perhaps all the less likely because if Conor Bradley gets carded in this match he’ll be ineligible against Real Madrid. As such, you might expect Jeremie Frimpong and Dominik Szoboszlai to be in contention for safe choices at right back, made all the more challenging with a potential Ryan Gravenberch injury.
Hugo Ekitiké will want to start on his return to his former club; the Frenchman scored 26 goals in 64 matches in his two seasons with Frankfurt. As he left on good terms there would be no major reason for Slot to rest him, though the Liverpool boss has tended to prefer Ekitiké off the bench following his red card gaffe.
It’s been reported that Ryan Gravenberch missed training with an ankle injury, and thus might be rested for this one: not something you’d want to hear given the fragility of Liverpool’s defense. Curtis Jones might feature from the start in his absence, and Dominik Szoboszlai would be perhaps unlucky to not feature alongside him (if not once again called upon to dabble at right back).
It would be hard to argue that Miloš Kerkez was the main problem against Manchester United on Sunday, but the experience of Andy Robertson might be preferred in a tie that means quite a lot given the recent record.
Liverpool come into this match having lost their last two Champions League league phase away matches, though it’s worth noting that the first of those loses came after qualification to the next phase had been guaranteed last season. It is hard to overlook the recent run of results, but it may be meaningful nonetheless that the Reds have won 13 of their last 15 group stage/league phase matches — quite a good record.
The Managers Have Their Say
Arne Slot: Unfortunately due to flight delays Slot was unable to fulfill the pre-match media duties ahead of this one. Even he didn’t want to chat about the Reds at this particular moment.
Dino Toppmöller: “When you watch the games, which of course we did, you see that they seem to lack a bit of a spark at the moment. But in every game, they’ve been the better team and have had more chances at goal. We’re expecting a world-class team. You’ve got to be aware of what it does to a team to lose four in a row.”
The Officials
Referee: François Letexier FRA Assistants: Cyril Mugnier FRA, Mehdi Rahmouni FRA Fourth Official: Jérémie Pignard FRA VAR: Jérôme Brisard FRA Asst VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
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