West Ham face Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final this week.
The London Stadium is going to be bouncing as the Hammers aim to head to a first European final since 1976 (on that run to the final West Ham beat Frankfurt in the last four).
David Moyes’ side secured memorable victories over Sevilla followed by a special night in France beating Lyon. Will there be another famous win or can the Bundesliga side stop West Ham’s run. Let’s take a closer look at Eintracht Frankfurt.
West Ham play Eintracht Frankfurt in a Europa League final four in the club’s biggest game in years. We profile the German side.
History
Eintracht means “harmony” or “concord” which is essentially the German equivalent to United. The club was founded in 1899 and was one of the Bundesliga’s founding members and are now one of the most well respected in Germany. They have won the league once in 1959, before it became the Bundesliga and have 5 domestic cups to their name. Most notably they won the UEFA Cup/Europa League in 1979/80.
This Season
Managed by Oliver Glasner, Eintracht started the season really poorly failing to win any of their first six games. This was the beginning of Glasner’s tenure after losing Adi Hutter to Borussia Monchengladbach over the summer. Eventually form would improve and Eintracht since 9th in the league at the moment. Similarly to West Ham, league results have been disappointing in recent weeks, perhaps as Europe becomes priority.
Road to the semi-final
They topped Group D of the Europa League undefeated (3 wins and 3 draws). Antwerp, Fenerbache and Olympiakos were in their group. They then beat ex-West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis in the last 16 followed by a famous victory over Barcelona. They drew the first leg at home 1-1 and then took a remarkable 30,000 fans to the Nou Camp (despite a 5,000 allocation) and won 2-3.
Players to Watch
Fillip Kostic is the star of the team. He is a Serbian left-wing back who has got it all. He’s got energy, pace, strength, good set pieces, creativity via great crosses and has an eye for goal as he was previously a winger. He is the ideal modern wing-back and has caught the attention of many of Europe’s big clubs.
Their front three is full of youthful pace, energy and creativity, Jesper Lindstrom, Dalachi Kamada and Rafael Santos Borre can cause defences a lot of problem.
Also, Sebastian Rode the captain offers experience and quality in midfield. He has played for Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
Martin Hinterreger at the heart of Frankfurt’s back three is an accomplished centre-back, he is a great tackler and strong in the air.
Tactics
Eintracht like to attack down the left and use their star man Kostic. Either Ben Johnson or Vladimir Coufal will need to be on top form to stop him and Jarrod Bowen will need to work hard defensively. They take plenty of long shots, like to cross but often struggle to hold possession and sometimes even leads in matches.
Played for Both
Sebastien Haller signed for West Ham after a great few seasons at Eintracht Frankfurt for £45 million. He never reached his potential and never fitted in with West Ham’s style and left for Ajax soon after Moyes’ arrival in East London.