Our next opponents: Frankfurt turn attentions to Bundesliga

Position

Eintracht already knew that Wednesday would be their last Champions League outing of the season, so the feeling of disappointment was limited after their 2-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur to conclude the league phase. Instead, players and club officials tried to take the positives from the game. “We did a decent job defensively today. It was a step in the right direction in terms of being compact and stable,” said board member Markus Krösche. Caretaker coach Dennis Schmitt, who will oversee his final game this weekend before Albert Riera takes over full time, saw “small steps forward” and highlighted that, “we were resolute the entire game, defended in a compact way and allowed them little.”

With continental elimination and also going out of the cup on penalties to Borussia Dortmund, Frankfurt now only have the Bundesliga to focus their efforts on. They will also turn to the support of their fans, after their committed display against Spurs helped ease recent tensions between the team and the supporters. “We won back the fans somewhat, but it remains important that we come together, stay together, look ahead and focus fully on the Bundesliga,” said Mario Götze after Wednesday’s game. Schmitt added: “We’re very grateful to the fans’ support. They pushed us forward and have given us a good feeling for the next game. We’ve got a lot of work to do and will put in a lot of effort so we can win at home to Leverkusen.”

It means there’s a lot on the line for Frankfurt, whose recent form has fallen well short of expectations. A 1-0 victory over Augsburg is their only win in the last 12 competitive fixtures, managing four draws and seven defeats since the end of November. A sense of uncertainty and growing insecurity in defence, which has conceded far too many goals of late, led to the dismissal of Dino Toppmöller in the wake of their 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen earlier in January.

The three games under interim boss Schmitt have all been defeats. Last time out in the Bundesliga they lost 3-1 at home to Hoffenheim to sit eighth in the table. They had previously been beaten 3-2 at Qarabag to end their Champions League play-off hopes, even before the loss to Tottenham. Schmitt will again oversee the visit of the Werkself, before Riera – appointed on Friday evening – takes over full time.

Personnel

Frankfurt have been busy in the January window, making five signings, including three forwards to cover for the injured Jonathan Burkardt (muscular) and Michy Batshuayi (metatarsal). Arnaud Kalimuendo joined on loan from Nottingham Forest, Younes Ebnoutalib signed from Elversberg and Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab arrived from Hoffenheim’s second team. All three have already scored for their new club, with the former netting twice. Defender Keita Kosugi (Djurgardens) and midfielder Love Arrhov (Brommapojkarna) are the other new faces.

However, injuries have continued to plague Eintracht. Ebnoutalib will miss the Leverkusen game with a knee injury. Can Uzun also picked up a thigh injury against Hoffenheim and is out. With six goals and five assists, the playmaker’s absence will be felt.

Problems

A look at Eintracht’s goal difference tells you all you need to know about their season. While they have the Bundesliga’s third-best attack with 39 goals scored, they also have the worst defence in the division with 42 goals conceded from 19 games (same as bottom side Heidenheim). They are very close to surpassing their total from the whole of 2024/25 (46 conceded). Shipping goals in patches has been a particular issue, like when they let in three in nine minutes in their 5-1 loss to Liverpool, three in six in the 3-0 defeat to Atalanta and four in 18 during their 6-0 thrashing at the hands of RB Leipzig.

“We’ve made simple mistakes too often,” said forward Ansgar Knauff. And that has continued into 2026, with goalkeeper Kaua Santos conceding three goals in each of the first five games of this year. Errors have also increased in the second half of games, resulting in a league-high 26 goals conceded in that period and 13 in the final 15 minutes.

Performers

Still, Frankfurt are one of the best teams in Germany going forward, as was the case last season. Only Bayern Munich (72) and Hoffenheim (40) have netted more goals than their 39, spread across a division-leading 17 different goalscorers. The injured Burkardt leads the way with eight goals and an assist, while Ritsu Down (four/five), Uzun (six/five), Knauff (three/one), Fares Chaibi (one/seven) and even left-back Nathaniel Brown (one/four) have played their part in attack. The best examples of Eintracht’s attacking power have come in their 6-4 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, 4-3 victories over Union Berlin and Köln, plus their 5-1 triumph at home to Galatasaray. But again, note the goals conceded there…