Eintracht Frankfurt need to win the second leg against Levski Sofia to be in European competition again this season. Against the Bulgarians, however, the Hessians are missing their striking star player.
After 1-1 in Sofia there will be a second leg between Eintracht Frankfurt and Sofia on Thursday. Kick-off in the Waldstadion is at 8.30 p.m.
the initial situation
The thing is clear: whoever wins is in the group stage of the Conference League. For the loser, the competition is over before it really begins. A draw automatically leads to overtime, but if that doesn’t produce a winner either, it goes to penalties.
While Eintracht after the bitter last-minute equalizer in Sofia in Mainz was able to celebrate Omar Marmoush’s last-minute equaliser, you put your feet up relaxed at Levski. The Bulgarian FA moved the league games ahead of the Conference League games against Eintracht. Sofia should go into the Herculean task as fresh as possible.
The staff
Eintracht Frankfurt has to do without the first-leg goal scorer in the second leg. Randal Kolo Muani is neither suspended nor injured. The Frenchman wants to force his move to Paris St. Germain and is on strike. oh dear Coach Dino Toppmöller left it open who exactly replaces him up front, but Omar Marmoush will definitely be in the starting XI. Captain Sebastian Rode, who was injured in the first leg, had not been called up for the play-off round. He is replaced by Kristijan Jakić in the squad.
This is how Eintracht could play against Sofia.
Nothing was known in advance about possible failures at Levski Sofia. So it’s quite possible that the Bulgarians can rely on the same team that surprised in the first leg.
This is how Sofia could play: Andreyev – Petris, Dimitrov, Cordoba, Tsunami – Krayev – Mitkov,El Jemili – Ronaldo, Welton – Ricardinho
That’s what the coaches say
Dino Toppmöller (Eintracht Frankfurt): “We watched and analyzed the first leg several times. It was the tough game we expected, with good individual quality from Levski Sofia. They were always dangerous, especially through the two flanks. We came up with a good plan to avoid problems for our opponents on Thursday We are aware that we still have to step up our game in terms of football.”
Nikolai Kostov (Levski Sofia): “The first leg gives us a reason to believe even more in our abilities. Our players have internalized that too. We will do everything possible to eliminate Eintracht Frankfurt. Everything that’s going on with the opponent doesn’t interest us. We know who we’re playing against.”
You have to watch out for these players
The big question on Eintracht’s side is of course who should do the stalls up front now that Kolo Muani is on strike. The answer could be Omar Marmoush. The Egyptian was one of the most conspicuous Frankfurt players in the first leg against the Bulgarians. In Mainz he scored his first important goal for the Hessians.
In Sofia, it was the Brazilian Welton who excelled in the first leg. As predicted by Toppmöller, the fast left winger was Levski’s most dangerous player. Whoever works the right track at the Hessians will have to be prepared for a strenuous evening.
The numbers for the game
For Eintracht, the Conference League is of course primarily about prestige. However, the Hessians could also rake in a little money by moving into the group phase. There is a meager 750,000 euros for the losers of the play-off round. The leap into the group phase, on the other hand, is paid by UEFA with 2.94 million euros. There is 166,000 euros for every draw and 500,000 euros for every win. With a clever group phase, you can add up to quite a sum.
How to track the game
hr-iNFO broadcasts the game live and in full. You can the audio stream for transmission also on hessenschau.de find. The game will be commented by Phil Hofmeister and Daniel Höhr. The game will be shown on TV by RTL.
