The Europa League winners of last season will step out onto the Champions League turf for the first time in 62 years with Eintracht Frankfurt welcoming Sporting Lisbon to the Deutsche Bank Park as the Portuguese side look to move on from a torrid start to their Primeira Liga season.
Frankfurt are entering the Champions League for only the second time and the first since its rebranding from the European Cup to the Champions League in 1992.
Der Tag ist gekommen! ✨🤩🆚 @Eintracht - @Sporting_CP 🏟️ Stadion Frankfurt⏰ Mittwoch, 7. September, 18.45 Uhr🏆 @ChampionsLeague, 1.Spieltag📺 @DAZN_DE📻 https://t.co/U762UPvmY5#UCL | #SGESCP | #SGEuropa pic.twitter.com/rLZ396AMhW— Eintracht Frankfurt (@Eintracht) September 7, 2022
Der Tag ist gekommen! ✨🤩🆚 @Eintracht - @Sporting_CP 🏟️ Stadion Frankfurt⏰ Mittwoch, 7. September, 18.45 Uhr🏆 @ChampionsLeague, 1.Spieltag📺 @DAZN_DE📻 https://t.co/U762UPvmY5#UCL | #SGESCP | #SGEuropa pic.twitter.com/rLZ396AMhW
In fact, the last time the club were in this competition, they reached the final and played out one of the most memorable European games in history as Real Madrid lifted the European crown in a 7-3 thriller.
Ironically, those two met again earlier in the season in the UEFA Super Cup, as Real strolled to victory and lifted the trophy with an easy 2-0 win. What's more, Frankfurt's tough league campaign from last season is continuing into this one.
In truth, despite Europa League success, it was a bad year for Frankfurt where they finished 11th in the league. Now, with 11 goals scored and the same amount conceded, the club are coming into this one off the back of two wins, two draws and a loss.
On the other hand, both wins have come in the past two games and they now come into this off the back of a two-game winning run and eight goals scored in this time.
Frankfurt defeated Werder Bremen 4-3 two weeks back after going 2-1 down inside 20 minutes, only to bring the game back to 4-3 with two more first half goals and a fourth on the 48th minute for Djibril Sow.
The club then went on to smash RB Leipzig 4-0 over the weekend, in what was one of Oliver Glasner’s best results as Frankfurt manager. Once again, the club saw four different goalscorers in the game for the second game running.
As for Sporting, they did manage to return to the win column last time out with a 2-0 win against Estoril Praia. However, with a 2-0 loss to Chaves and a 3-0 demolition by rivals Porto, the club sit ninth in the Primeira Liga and have ultimately struggled a lot so far.
Sporting's overall record sees them with eight goals scored and eight conceded now, with two wins and two draws alongside one draw. Forebet predicts a win for Sporting here and for the game to see over 2.5 goals.