Eintracht Frankfurt vs Barcelona Preview

Barcelona will travel to Germany this Thursday to take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.

The hosts come into this encounter on the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw with bottom-placed Greuther Furth in Bundesligas round 28. That draw was their fourth in a row and they have picked up three wins in their last seven games in all competitions.

They booked their place in this round thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 aggregate win over another Spanish opponent Real Betis. They must now follow up that win with another positive result against Spain’s most in-form team.

However, to win this, Oliver Glasner’s side will have to sort out their issues in attack as they have scored just four goals scored in their last five matches.

Given that Eintracht Frankfurt have a sound record against Spanish teams and have not been beaten on eight occasions against Spanish sides, Glasner will hope to continue this trend when the two sides meet for the first time.

Meanwhile, Barcelona extended their unbeaten run to 13 games (W10, D3) in all competitions when they beat Sevilla 1-0 last weekend. That win which was their sixth straight win in La Liga took them into second place in the league.

They will now turn their attention to their quest for a Europa League crown as they attempt to end their poor form against German opponents.

The Catalan club have lost their last three meetings with Bundesliga opposition going down 3-0 home and away to Bayern in this season’s Champions League groups and 8-2 in the 2019/20 one-legged quarter-finals.

But since dropping from the Champions League, they have not tasted defeat. They beat Napoli in the playoffs before beating Turkish side Galatasaray over two legs to qualify for this stage.

They remain firm favourites to go all the way to the final but they come up against a team that has not tasted defeat in their last six games.