Europa League: Barca Ready to Shoot Down the Eagles

Barcelona vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Barcelona welcome Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League match of the week on Thursday, and I’m backing the Catalans to have another big night.

Since the arrival of Xavi. there has been a different look about the Camp Nou. Gone are the miserable faces and furrowed brows; now the post-Messi era is starting to look much brighter.

While Real Madrid are running away with La Liga, the Blaugrana have improved massively, up to second place, and they enjoyed thumping Los Blancos 4-0 in the recent El Clasico.

Their German guests are having a disappointing campaign in comparison, sitting ninth in the Bundesliga table after an inconsistent run of league form.        

The tie is nicely balanced following a 1-1 draw in Frankfurt last week where Ansgar Knauff scored a first-half screamer to put the Eagles in charge, before Ferran Torres levelled for the visitors to preserve an unbeaten run of 22 games, stretching back to December.

With a tie against the winners of West Ham vs Lyon the prize, Thursday’s result will set up another mouth-watering clash in the semi-finals.    

Barca come into the game on the back of a 3-2 win away to Levante while Eintracht suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to SC Freiburg. The hosts are at odds of 1.21 to make it through to the next round, while Oliver Glasner’s Eintracht are still in the tie at a SBOTOP price of 3.85

Talking Points

Xavi’s new look Barca want silverware

Barcelona made hard work of beating an understrength Levante at the weekend, but they came through 3-2 to keep the bandwagon rolling.

Xavi hopes his team’s form will lead to a trophy in his first year in charge. They looked unusually off the pace in the first half against Levante and conceded a remarkable three penalties, the first of which was converted by Levante skipper Jose Luis Morales on 53 minutes.

When Eric Garcia handled, the referee pointed to the spot again, but this time Roger Marti’s spot kick was stopped by Marc-Andre ter Stegen. That shifted the momentum as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang immediately levelled for Barca before teenager Pedri gave Barca the lead. 

But when Clement Lenglet tripped Dani Gomez, Gonzalo Melero took his turn from 12 yards and converted for 2-2. But Luuk de Jong headed home the winner deep into stoppage time to give Barca the three points they needed to pass Sevilla and take the second spot.

It was their seventh consecutive victory and it’s no coincidence that Barca’s January signings have done so well.  Aubameyang and Torres have two goals each in this competition, while Torres has two assists alongside De Jong and fellow new signing Adama Traore. While Traore may start on the bench against the Eagles, I expect Auba and Torres to start alongside Ousmane Dembele in Barca’s quest for silverware.

Kostic is key for Eintracht

They had a chance to derail SC Freiburg’s top-four ambitions on Sunday, but Frankfurt came out on the wrong side of an entertaining match in which they won the shot count by 18 to 12 and five to four on target.

Serbian midfield ace Filip Kostic is a player we expect to feature in the Europa League 2022 highlights this week. He usually plays on the left wing, but he drifts inside and has a fierce shot on him which has yielded 18 goals for the club at a rate of one in five. Kostic scored Eintracht’s goal against Freiburg and he has made four assists in the Europa League.

The Serb will provide a ready supply for bustling striker Goncalo Paciencia, who has scored two goals in the competition, while picking up four yellow cards. Barca will also be aware of the threat of midfielder Daichi Kamada, who has scored four Europa goals. But the Eagles will be without young Brazilian defender Tuta, who was sent off late in the first leg.    

History

Of course Barcelona are European football royalty, winning 26 La Liga titles and five Champions Leagues, but the Eagles do have one achievement over their opponents, they were Europa winners in 1980. More recently, Frankfurt have enjoyed domestic success winning the DFB Pokal Cup in 2018 but they were last German league champions in 1959. 

There is a stark contrast in recent form with Barcelona winning five and drawing one (against Frankfurt) of the last six games, while Eintracht have drawn five and lost one.

Betting Tip

At a price of 1.42 the Europa League 2022 betting odds are right behind the Catalans to finish off Eintracht at the Camp Nou on Thursday. A draw at odds of 4.40 cannot be ruled out, though a Frankfurt victory at 5.20 might be a step too far.  

A correct scoreline of 2-0 will pay a price of 6.60, and a goal in each half would see the Blaugrana ease through to the last four. 

 

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