2022-23 UEFA Champions League knockout stage team preview: Eintracht Frankfurt
IN BRIEF
Manager: Oliver Glasner
Group stage performance: 2nd (LWDLWW - vs Olympique de Marseille, Sporting CP, Tottenham Hotspur)
UEFA Champions Leagues/European Cups: 0
Last season’s performance: DNQ
SO FAR…
After winning the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League on penalties in Sevilla against Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt automatically qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, despite actually finishing 11th and in the bottom-half of the Bundesliga last season.
They won just one of their opening four UEFA Champions League group stage matches, though, in a competitive and well balanced group alongside Olympique de Marseille, Sporting CP and Tottenham Hotspur.
Frankfurt did manage to quality in second place with back-to-back victories to finish the group stage with back-to-back 2-1 wins against Marseille and Sporting.
They were entertaining to watch in the second-half of the campaign, especially in comparison to the first three matches. The first three games consisted of just four goals, whilst the second set of matches combined for 11 goals.
WHAT ARE EINTRACHT FRANKFURT’S CHANCES IN THE KNOCKOUT STAGES?
Under the management of Oliver Glasner, they have maintained a clear identity and style of play, though, despite the sale of Filip Kostic to Juventus in the summer. The three-at-the-back system with the likes of Daichi Kamada and Randal Kolo Muani have thrived this season as they compete for the top four and the UEFA Champions League spots in Germany.
They are into the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal, knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, too, as The Eagles show an impressive style of football, balanced with a pragmatism allowing them to thrive in all competitions.
They do face a tough test in the Last 16 of this competition, though, as they take on Serie A’s runaway league leaders, Napoli. It is difficult to know which games Napoli will specifically find difficult in a tactical sense because the Neapolitans have struggled so little.
However, if Frankfurt are to be successful they will have to focus on remaining as intense as they were in the knockout stages of last season’s UEFA Europa League run, particularly in their away wins at Camp Nou against Barcelona and the London Stadium against West Ham United.
If they can maintain an aggressive press against the Italian league leaders then Napoli, especially with their focus on winning a third ever Scudetto, could well find it difficult to precisely play through the German defence. It remains a very tough ask for Glasner’s side, though.
ODDS TO WIN THE 2022-23 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 150/1
Odds used are the best at Oddschecker at the time of writing
