The Eintracht Frankfurt fixture list has recently run into trouble. The Europa League second leg match in Salzburg was postponed for a day due to a storm. Due to the limited time for recovery, the Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen on Sunday night had to be rearranged – and then Eintracht played Werder in the DFB Cup on Wednesday. Frankfurt secured a deserved 2-0 win and are now in the semi-final draw along with Bayer 04, FC Bayern and FC Saarbrücken. With the away game at the BayArena – at least for now – the 'normal' pattern of fixtures has returned. The season so far has proved to be quite stressful for the Frankfurt club. No other professional team in Germany has played as many games and the match against the Werkself will be the 42nd match this term. Like Bayer 04, Eintracht Frankfurt are still competing on three fronts: They are one win away from the DFB Cup final in Berlin, Eintracht easily beat Salzburg in the Europa League and now face FC Basel in the Round of 16. In the Bundesliga, the team coached by Adi Hütter are twelfth in the table ahead of the clash against Bayer 04 – they have played one game less and are two points behind Union Berlin in tenth place.
Filip Kostic had a brilliant game for Eintacht when the two sides met earlier in the season in October and Bayer 04 will definitely need to keep an eye out for him. That was not the only fine performance from the Serb this term. The left-footer will miss the DFB Cup semi-final after being sent off against Werder Bremen but he should be a key element in the Frankfurt attack at the BayArena. Kostic is a player who can make the difference – with his pace, dynamism and pin-point crosses. Kostic has already provided nine assists in the Bundesliga and he set up the second goal in the DFB Cup tie with an unstoppable run and cross down the left wing .
The goalscorer: Daichi Kamada. The Japan international is one of the high flyers for Eintracht over the past few months. Following a loan spell in Belgium, he was given an outside chance of a regular slot in the starting eleven but his quality stood out and he has livened up the Eintracht attack – and now he has also found the back of the net. He not only scored against Werder Bremen – the attacking midfielder bagged a hat-trick in the first leg match against Salzburg. In the Europa League group game against Arenal, Kamada was the match winner at the Emirates Stadium. The technically-gifted midfielder has yet to score in the Bundesliga.
The image of the 'moody diva from the river Main' certainly applies this season. The biggest constant of recent months has been inconsistency. In February, a 5-0 thrashing of Augsburg was followed by a 4-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund, the convincing 4-1 victory over RB Salzburg by a deserved defeat at home to Union Berlin. That trend has continued throughout the season: Frankfurt have experienced some great moments this term such as the 5-1 win against FC Bayern and two victories against RB Leipzig in quick succession. However, the team from Hesse have often produced disappointing displays as in the match in Dortmund and the 2-1 defeat at Paderborn just before Christmas. How will Eintracht Frankfurt perfrorm at the BayArena on Saturday?
This club has often impressed over the course of recent seasons: Almost relegated in 2016, Eintracht won the DFB Cup in 2018 and were in the Europa League semi-finals last year where they just missed out on going through to the final – they lost 4-3 on penalties to Chelsea. Now, internationally renowned players like André Silva and Bas Dost are now at the club. After selling Luka Jovic, Ante Rebic and Sebastien Haller last year, Eintracht have the financial basis to flourish in the Bundesliga over the next few years.
With a seven-point deficit to seventh place in the Bundesliga, it will be difficult for Eintracht to qualify for Europe but not impossible – above all because this team can compete with any other team in the league on a good day. For that reason, Frankfurt remain an incredibly dangerous cup team and can go a long way in the Europa League and the DFB Cup.
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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