Europa League
Frankfurt suffered bitter bankruptcy: Lyon was too ripped off
Updated 12/12/2024 – 11:02 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Lyon and Frankfurt fought an attractive duel. In the end, Eintracht suffered their first Europa League defeat of the season.
Eintracht Frankfurt suffered their first defeat of the season in the Europa League. At Olympique Lyon it was 2:3 (1:1) from Eintracht’s point of view. The French hosts presented themselves as extremely dangerous throughout the game, but were initially unable to capitalize on their chances. It was Ansgar Knauff who was able to give the visitors from Frankfurt a somewhat surprising lead in the 18th minute.
Lyon quickly shook off the setback and equalized in the 27th minute through Rayan Cherki. After that, almost only the French played – and in the second half the hosts also took advantage of their chances. Malick Fofana gave Olympique the lead in the 50th minute before Ernest Nuamah made it 3-1 just four minutes later. Frankfurt then rebelled again, but they couldn’t manage anything more than substitute Omar Marmoush’s goal (85′).
Despite the defeat, Eintracht still has a good chance of making it to the knockout rounds. With 13 points they are still in fifth place in the table. The first eight places qualify for direct qualification for the round of 16. In the new year, Frankfurt will face Ferencváros Budapest and AS Roma.
While Olympique missed the opportunity to take the lead, Knauff made it 1-0 after great preparatory work from Ekitiké. After that, only Lyon played in the first half.
The equalizing goal was a bit fortunate: Cherki deliberately deflected an attempt from Tolisso in order to change the ball’s trajectory. Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp seemed surprised. Although he managed to get his fingers on the ball, he couldn’t prevent the goal from being conceded.
The hosts then had several good opportunities to completely turn the score around. First Trapp parried a shot from Alexandre Lacazette (34′), only a short time later Nuamah hit the post with a slightly deflected shot (36′). Eintracht were lucky that it was a draw at the break.
Toppmöller couldn’t be satisfied with his team’s performance after taking the lead and made two substitutions in the second half. Rasmus Kristensen came on to replace Niels Nkounkou, who received a yellow card, and Ellyes Skhiri replaced Tuta.
But the changes did not have the desired effect. Fofana coldly took advantage of a hair-raising loss of the ball by Eintracht defender Arthur Theate. Olympique remained the better team and rewarded themselves with the next goal thanks to a wonderful individual action and a remarkable shot from Nuamah.
As a result, Lyon only did the bare minimum. Frankfurt’s substitute top scorer Marmoush punished the passivity. However, Eintracht was no longer able to equalize.