Eintracht Frankfurt vs Strasbourg

30 August 2019

Eintracht Frankfurt welcome Strasbourg to the Commerzbank-Arena for the return leg of their UEFA Europa League (EL) play-offs tie, hopeful that they can overcome a one-goal deficit from the first leg (1-0 loss).

The hosts have kicked off their road to the EL group stage in the second round after finishing seventh in the Bundesliga last season. Die Adler had no problems beating the Estonian side Flora 4-2 on aggregate (2-1 A, 2-1 H) to move on to the third round where they’ve thrashed Vaduz 6-0 on aggregate (5-0 A, 1-0 H). The first-leg loss to Strasbourg was one of Frankfurt’s two defeats in their last 21 EL outings (W13, D6, L2), qualifiers included. Seven of those triumphs have come at home, six of which have seen Eintracht score two or more goals and restrict their rivals to a maximum of one goal per match.

Meanwhile, the visitors have returned to the European qualifiers after 14 years of absence, edging past Maccabi Haifa 4-3 on aggregate (3-1 H, 1-2 A). Le Racing have then battled their way into the play-offs thanks to a routine 2-0 aggregate victory over the Bulgarian outfit Lokomotiv Plovdiv (1-0 A, 1-0 H). Frankfurt will be the second Bundesliga team to come face-to-face with Strasbourg in the European competition after the Ligue 1 side faced off Duisburg in the UEFA Cup in 1978/79 (D1, L1). A lack of experience in European football can prove costly to Strasbourg’s bid for the group stage, especially as they’ve lost half of their last ten European away matches (W4, D1, L5), conceding over 1.5 match goals in all five of those failures.