The guest appearance of Slavia Prague marks the first assessment of the SGE’s position in the Europa League. After the last ten competitive games went unexpectedly well with six wins, three draws and the defeat against Leverkusen, it is now time to put the first, more highly rated opponent in the Waldstadion in their place.
But what does “higher rated” mean? The team is currently dominating the action in the national Chance League and has got off to an almost perfect start with eleven wins and two draws with 28 goals to 4. In qualifying for the Champions League, they were knocked out by Union Saint-Gilloise 3-1 and 1-0 in the third round before narrowly losing out to Lille OSC 0-2 and 2-1 in the play-offs. In the Europa League they won 1-0 at Ludogorez Razgrad, played 1-1 at home against Ajax Amsterdam and lost 0-1 at Atletic in Bilbao. Sounds mixed.
I don’t really know much about the team, but as a Czech sound engineer told me, the Eintracht defense should be particularly careful with one player, 19-year-old El Hadji Malick Diouf, who has 5 goals and 19 competitive games this season Contributed 3 assists from the left wing. The boy is fast and has a good shot, coupled with good technique.
Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
But – and I have this self-confidence – I currently see no reason why the glorious SBU should not overcome this challenge. A win should be possible against Prague, who usually play in a 3-4-3 formation.
In terms of personnel, Theate will start again at left back, Brown will be allowed to sit in the stands as he was not registered for the EL. I suspect a three-man back line, completed by Tuta and Koch, in front of that a five-man midfield with Larsson and Skhiri (Dahoud?), Knauff and Ebimbe on the rails and Götze centrally. And at the forefront of course Marmoush and Ekitike.
If you look at the situation in the Europa League, a win today would be a pretty sure qualification for the second round and a big step towards direct participation in the round of 16. And considering the upcoming opponents Midtjylland, Lyon and Roma, it’s actually a must win.
Off to a new atmospheric floodlit evening in the heart of Europe!
Cover photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images
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