Eintracht has the best chance against Saloniki, but has to hand over victory to the guests from Greece due to individual mistakes. This means that everything in Group G is already clear before the last matchday.
Eintracht Frankfurt also lost the second leg against PAOK Saloniki. On Thursday evening, the Hessians lost 1:2 (0:0). Tomasz Kedziora (55th minute) and Andrija Zivkovic (73rd) were successful for the guests, while Omar Marmoush (58th) scored for Eintracht. In stoppage time, Kristijan Jakic was also sent off with a yellow-red card.
Mario Götze was once again allowed to start for the Frankfurt team. Hrvoje Smolcic and Niels Nkounkou were also new compared to the Stuttgart game, while Aurélio Buta, Ansgar Knauff (both on the bench) and Philipp Max (not in the Conference League squad) had to go.
Eintracht fans stop support due to emergency medical intervention
The Frankfurt team took the initiative straight away, PAOK waited. This resulted in a lot of ball possession (63 to 37 percent in the first half) and the first chances: after a nice relay of passes, Hugo Larsson missed the goal (5th minute), and after a combination that was also worth seeing, Marmoush shot over the goal (9th). When Nkounkou bravely broke into the penalty area in the 25th minute, his shot was too central and therefore no problem for PAOK keeper Dominik Kotarski.
The guests’ best chance was Thomas Murg, who prevailed against the hesitant Smolcic, but was unable to surprise Kevin Trapp with his shot into the near corner (29′). Marmoush wasted the greatest opportunity to take the lead when Eintracht missed a rebound from a standard situation, but he was unable to process it properly in front of Kotarski (32′).
Meanwhile, it had become unusually quiet in the stadium: the Frankfurt fans had temporarily stopped supporting them due to an emergency medical call in the home block. Shortly before the half-time whistle, the person was taken away – he was “responsive”, reported Eintracht.
Conceding a goal wakes up Eintracht
At the beginning of the second half, the Toppmöller team initially had to cope with the replacement of Ellyes Skhiri due to injury. Then things got even worse: After a cross into the Eintracht penalty area, Tuta and Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe hindered each other, and Tuta also missed a second opportunity to clear the ball. Kedziora took the lead for the Greeks (55th).
But the conceded goal served as a wake-up call for Eintracht: Farès Chaibi crossed, Marmoush headed at the near post – 1-1, just three minutes after conceding the goal. Two minutes later, Larsson even scored to make it 2-1, but it didn’t count due to a narrow offside position. But Eintracht continued cheerfully: Larsson set up Dina Ebimbe, who narrowly missed the far corner (63′).
However, the next cold shower came in the 73rd minute: Trapp was only able to let an actually harmless shot bounce forward, and Zivkovic pushed the ball over the line to make it 1-2 from Frankfurt’s perspective. This time the Hessians couldn’t come back – the best chance to equalize was missed by the busy Marmoush, who shot over the goal from five meters in the 84th minute. To make matters worse, Jakic, who came on for Skhiri, saw yellow-red in stoppage time.
Eintracht has to play in the second round
Due to the defeat, it is already clear that Eintracht will finish Conference League Group G in second place. The group win goes to Saloniki. The Greeks qualify directly for the round of 16, while Eintracht has to play again in the second round. This will be played on February 15th and 22nd in a two-legged tie, with the draw taking place on December 18th. The last group game on December 14th (6.45 p.m.) in Aberdeen is meaningless for the group constellation.
