Europa League: 2-3 defeat – Eintracht series breaks in Lyon

Eintracht Frankfurt loses in Lyon – narrowly but deservedly. The Hessians have been inferior to the French in the Europa League for a long time and are missing out on a record.

They were unbeaten for an impressive 18 Europa League games in a row, and were last defeated in Basel more than four years ago – and thus almost became the sole record holders. Almost! Because on Thursday evening Eintracht Frankfurt lost 2:3 (1:1) at Olympique Lyon and will have to share the best score with Chelsea FC in the future.

In France, Ansgar Knauff took the lead for the Hessians (19th minute), but they then reduced the lead significantly. Rayan Cherki (27′), Malick Fofana (50′) and Ernest Nuamah (54′) scored for Lyon before Omar Marmoush (85′) reduced the deficit. After the final whistle, Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller was also shown a red card for complaining. In the table The Frankfurters remain in the top eight, they are fifth, but direct progression to the round of 16 is not guaranteed.

Nkounkou completely out of character – Chaibi too

In the starting line-up, Toppmöller had left out his best scorer, striker Marmoush, whom he “didn’t want to burn out” physically, as he recently said. Instead, Farès Chaibi was given another chance to prove himself in his hometown, which was difficult to explain given his previous performances. And what turned out to be a mistake this time too. Chaibi, called up as second striker, remained completely ineffective until he was substituted in the 63rd minute.

The nomination of Niels Nkounkou, however, had a negative impact. The left-back was completely beside himself, saw yellow very early, could have (or should have?) seen yellow-red early and otherwise did the plane signal: Instead of attacking opponents, he diligently waved them through. The substitution at halftime basically came too late.

Eintracht’s lead is followed by an OL attack

Despite all the criticism, the game started well from Hesse’s point of view. Eintracht started powerfully, pressed high and provoked playback errors. And after 19 minutes she was ahead. Mario Götze played a chip ball deep, Hugo Ekitiké prevailed with luck and skill, skillfully passing the ball into the middle with his outside instep, where Knauff finished. From then on, however, only Lyon played in the first half.

OL constantly broke through on the sides, and alongside the indisposed Nkounkou, Nnamdi Collins also had a complicated day. The French, who missed the best chances in the first half thanks to Corentin Tolisso (7th), Alexandre Lacazette (11th, 34th) and Nuamah (36th), achieved the more than deserved equalizer after 27 minutes.

Once again an attack was made on the left side of Frankfurt’s defense before Cherki put his foot in the shot of ex-Bayern professional Tolisso and put the ball into the net. Kevin Trapp, the Eintracht goalkeeper, got his left paw on the ball, but didn’t have enough pressure behind it to save. The attempt was not untenable.

Theate makes a mistake before falling behind

And after the break? First of all everything is the same! The only exception: This time it was the otherwise stable team on the Frankfurt side who made the mistakes. Before Lyon’s second goal, Arthur Theate unnecessarily lost the ball on the halfway line, the hosts countered, Robin Koch did not attack quickly enough, so that goal scorer Fofana was able to sprint free and finish in front of Trapp (50th). Before Nuamah made it 3-1, Rasmus Kristensen, who came on as a substitute in the second half, was too easily shaken off (54th).

Only after the double blow did the guests get back into the game better and had more possession phases. The substitutions of Marmoush and Can Uzun also raised the offensive level, which was also reflected in something countable: Uzun’s pass, Marmoush’s finish, Frankfurt’s follow-up goal (85th). However, the Hessians were unable to equalize in a hectic final phase. And so Toppmöller’s protégés, who saw the red card himself, remain winless in their third competitive game in a row. There is no question that Eintracht lost the lightness that had characterized them for so long in the final spurt before Christmas. And another Europa League game.