Eintracht Frankfurt will face Olympique Lyon in the Europa League today. For the Hessians it will be a real location determination.
“We don’t look at the table” is one of the favorite sentences of players, coaches or managers in professional football. It is as brief as it is untrue. Because, sorry, of course everyone looks at the table. Why not? In the Europa League, the table has much more significance much earlier than in the Bundesliga. The reason: Only the first eight go straight to the round of 16. And before the Eintracht Frankfurt game at Olympique Lyon (live from 9 p.m. in the radio report and in the ticker at the Sportschau) you notice a few numbers that read: 13, 20, 22, 26, 34 – and 7 .
The first five numbers are the current rankings of Eintracht’s first five opponents in the current Europa League season, while the last, seven, indicates the table position of Olympique Lyon, the sixth opponent. Just like the Hessians, the French are currently a top eight team and therefore a real challenge for the Frankfurt team. Curtain up for the big stage!
If you win, the round of 16 is very close
Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller also sees it that way. The coach the people of Frankfurt who are very rushed in the pre-Christmas stress feels that a big step towards the round of 16 can be taken on Thursday. “It feels a bit like it was a knockout game at an advanced stage,” emphasized the 44-year-old. It’s crunch time.
The calculation is simple: If the Hessians win against the French, the door to the round of 16 will be wide open. Then a look at the table from Frankfurt’s perspective is more than just worthwhile. “Another three points would be a very, very big step towards the round of 16,” explained Toppmöller and calculated: “With 16.17 points you should be relatively safe in the round of 16.”
Toppmöller: “It’s going to be a big one Challenge”
In order to collect these three points, you have to first an extremely strong and dominant Lyon be defeated. Anything but an easy undertaking. “We’re up against an extremely strong team. You break the opponent’s dominance by being dominant yourself,” said Toppmöller, explaining the approach for three more Europa League points.
In other words: active, courageous, without restraint. “But that will be a big challenge,” says Toppmöller. One person who is supposed to implement this requirement is attacker Hugo Ekitiké. The Frenchman is eager to play in his home country and should bring exactly the dominance that Toppmöller demands into the game on Thursday. “It’s a pleasure to play here in Lyon tomorrow,” emphasized the attacker.
The wish: Ekitiké with the winning goal
His trainer has a very special task for him. On December 1st, 2021, Ekitiké once scored the winning goal in Lyon with Stade Reims. “It would be nice if he scored the winning goal again on December 12th, 2024,” reported Toppmöller. If that really happens, it would be even more worthwhile to look at the table from Eintracht’s point of view.
This is how Eintracht could play in Lyon:
This is how Eintracht could play in Lyon.
