Bundesliga soccer team Eintracht Frankfurt has achieved a record streak of 18 unbeaten games in a row across seasons in the Europa League. In the difficult away game at Olympique Lyon (from 8:15 p.m. live on RTL and on RTL+*) Another victory should follow, which would then open the door wide open to the round of 16. The SGE’s defensive work is likely to be central in the fight for the three points.
The fact that Eintracht Frankfurt has the best chance of advancing directly after five match days in the Europa League with four wins and one draw is certainly due to the outstanding form of Omar Marmoush.
With three goals and two assists, the goalscorer is the best scorer in the competition together with four other players and is therefore a kind of guarantee of victory for Hesse.
But at least as important for the success of head coach Dino Toppmöller’s team: the work in defense around the defensive trio Arthur Theate, Robin Koch and Tuta. In the last Europa League duel at FC Midtjylland, the central defenders were supported on the wings by Niels Nkounkou and Nnamdi Collins.
The graphic with the Hessians’ center of action in the 2-1 win in Denmark shows a relatively clear structure with the defensive trio Theate (number 3), Koch (4) and Tuta (35). On the wings, Nkounkou (29) and Collins (34) played midfielders rather than full-backs:
The numbers of the players in the back three against Midtjylland were outstanding. Tuta (97), Koch (96) and Theate (83) were far ahead of all other players in the match when it came to ball contacts – no other player had more than 70. The “herd of buffalo” around Sebastien Haller and Luka once stormed the SGE Jovic and Ante Rebic, a new “defensive buffalo herd”, so to speak, has formed this season.
Further numbers on the defensive trio:
- Theate, who suffered a torn lateral ligament in the Bundesliga win in Heidenheim on December 1st, but still played through with tape and painkillers at home against Augsburg (2-2) six days later, won 75 percent of his duels (nine out of twelve) and recorded eight Ball wins (top value of all players) and was the only player in the game to have more ball wins than ball losses (seven in his case). In addition to Koch, the Belgian had the most clarifying actions for the SGE (seven). In the current competition, Theate is the best tackler in the Toppmöller team (82% won) and number 2 in the competition among all players who played at least 20 duels – behind Rangers player John Souttar (87%).
- Koch won 89 percent of his duels (eight out of nine), had the second most ball contacts and, next to Theate, the most clearing actions. The German international also had the best pass rate of all players (92% to his teammate). His ratio of ball wins (five) to ball losses (seven) was also really good.
- Tuta won 77 percent of his duels (ten of 13) and was the outstanding player in intercepted passes (an important indicator of game understanding). The Brazilian won seven balls in this way; no other player in the game managed more than three. With Elfsborg’s Andri Baldursson (seven against Bilbao), Tuta now also shares the top value for intercepted balls in a Europa League game in 2024/25. In addition to his defensive strength, Tuta repeatedly took part in the forward play and ended up recording 9 passes into the attacking third, the most in the SGE and tied for the top value in the entire match.
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