Bundesliga – Eintracht Frankfurt invites Union Berlin to a possible slide game
Bild: Imago/Contrast
Eight games before the end of the season, 1. FC Union Berlin is nine points ahead of the relegation place. A small cushion that does not allow unlimited slips. But Frankfurt also wants to secure its international starting position.
Five facts about the game
- The game on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) could – like the international match on Tuesday – turn into a slippery game. It’s supposed to rain in Frankfurt for the next few days and the lawn is in poor condition.
- Union needs brains: Eintracht Frankfurt conceded five of the last eight goals from headers
- The Frankfurters are the most efficient team in the league and only need seven shots on goal to score on average
- Union Berlin has to do without the red-suspended Andras Schäfer
- Around 2,500 Union fans are expected in Frankfurt
The opponent expert
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René Kurfürst became a Eintracht fan on his first visit to the stadium in the mid-90s. The idea for the “Eintracht Frankfurt Podcast” came to him while commuting between Frankfurt and Bonn. Because there was no podcast about the club, he sat down at the microphone himself in 2010. He now records an episode a week with a team [www.eintracht-podcast.de].
This is how things are going in terms of sport for Eintracht Frankfurt
The Frankfurters are currently in sixth place in the table with 40 points and have room to move in both directions. RB Leipzig are nine points ahead of them and Augsburg are five points behind. Before the international break there was a 1:3 defeat in Dortmund.
For opponent expert René Kurfürst from the “Eintracht Frankfurt Podcast”, sixth place is justifiable, “considering that we are in a season of change. We have a new coaching team. We have easily replaced two thirds of the squad with young players with prospects. All the players who were largely involved in the goals last year are no longer there.” But there would also be voices that would demand more and say: “This sixth place is actually almost a little too little compared to the number of players we now have.”
In the next few weeks, Frankfurt will mainly face the teams above them in the table. It is all the more important for coach Dino Toppmöller’s team to take three points against supposedly weaker opponents like Union Berlin.
That moves the fans
While the whole of football Germany was concerned about the poor condition of the Frankfurt pitch during the international match, this is a well-known problem for the Hessians. The right cleats for the players and we move on. The turf should not be replaced until the end of the season.
According to René Kurfürst, the fan scene is still concerned four months later with the riots between Eintracht supporters and the police at the home game against Stuttgart: “The week before last there were house searches on 42 Eintracht fans. That makes you ask yourself the question: Is that it? complete processing that the police have promised within their own ranks?” More than 200 people were injured in the riots, which have not yet been fully resolved [www.hessenschau.de].
Union Berlin has to pay attention to this player
Union Berlin has to pay particular attention to Omar Marmoush on Saturday. The 25-year-old center forward “is currently having an extreme run,” says Eintracht expert Kurfürst. “In Wolfsburg he wasn’t exactly famous for scoring goals in large numbers. But he just has an incredible desire to score, is fast and has a strong dribbling ability.” Marmoush scored ten goals and contributed six assists in 21 Bundesliga games. During the international break, the Egyptian international was in action against New Zealand (1-0) and Croatia (2-4).
That’s what the coaches say
Dino Toppmöller (Eintracht Frankfurt): “You can feel a sense of joy that we are now entering the final spurt. There are still eight games left. We want to show from Saturday that we are really keen on this phase that is now coming.”
Nenad Bjelica (1. FC Union Berlin): “Frankfurt is a team that is very uncomfortable with counterattacking players. Frankfurt is certainly a very unpleasant opponent at home with a full stadium. But we think we have a chance and hope that we can keep up with the performance, that we showed against Werder Bremen.”
This is how Union could play
Benedict Hollerbach caused a brief moment of shock on Monday: the striker had to stop team training injured and left the pitch with a bandaged right ankle. The injury was no longer an issue in the press conference on Thursday. In addition to Andras Schäfer, who is still suspended, Nenad Bjelica only has to do without the injured Janik Haberer and Jakob Busk. So there’s no reason to deviate too much from the starting eleven that last won against Werder Bremen.
Union’s possible starting eleven: Rönnow – Doekhi, Vogt, Leite – Trimmel, Tousart, Khedira, Gosens, Aaronson, Vertessen – Volland
Prognosis
Opponent expert René Kurfürst: “Considering that it’s a home game, we have to get the points and I see Eintracht as the better team, my desired result would be 3-1. Realistic result, because we’re somehow aiming for a draw set: 1:1.”
Editor’s tip: Eintracht Frankfurt beats Union Berlin 2-1.
Broadcast: rbb24, March 28, 2024, 9:45 p.m
2024-03-29 03:29:03
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