Eintracht Frankfurt missed a big step towards the round of 16 of the Europa League. The Hessians deservedly lost 2:3 (1:1) at Olympique Lyon. Ansgar Knauff gave Eintracht the lead in the 18th minute. Afterwards, however, the hosts, who dominated the game, turned the game around with goals from Rayan Cherki (27th), Malick Fofana (50th) and Ernest Nuamah (54th).
Substitute Omar Marmoush (85th) gave hope again with his goal, but it wasn’t enough for more. Immediately after the final whistle, Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller saw the red card.
SGE remains at the forefront despite defeat
For the SGE it is the first defeat of this European Cup season. Nevertheless, after six out of eight match days, the Frankfurt team are still among the top eight teams in the Europa League. In the two remaining games, the chances of advancing directly are still good.
Eintracht striker Hugo Ekitiké had the first good chance of the game from a promising position, but he only managed a harmless shot (6th). On the other side, former Bayern player Corentin Tolisso hit the post after a major mistake in the SGE’s build-up play (7th).
Lyon’s Cherki responds to Knauff’s lead
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.
Lyon presses, Eintracht is lucky
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.
Theate’s mistake opens Lyon’s lead
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.