Eintracht Frankfurt are just a season removed from reaching the Europa League semifinals. They lost to eventual champions Chelsea on penalties at Stamford Bridge last season in heartbreaking fashion.
Now, the Eagles are on a mission to go one better and reach the final. Standing in their way on Thursday night is Switzerland’s FC Basel. The two sides will meet at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt which will give Eintracht the decided edge in the fixture.
Basel faced Cyprus’ APOEL in the round of 32 dispatching their opponents 4-0 on aggregate. The Swiss team have been good in the Europa League but domestic results have been incredibly disappointing.
Marcel Koller’s team haven’t played since their February Europa League win against APOEL. The Swiss Super League is currently suspended due to health reasons after the spread of the coronavirus to Switzerland.
The lack of matches will be a major factor in the Europa League last 16 for Basel. Their last three matches in all competitions were postponed and fitness could be an issue for Koller and his players.
History is not on Basel’s side as they head across the Swiss-German border on Thursday night. They have lost all four of their previous knockout matches against German teams, losing on their last three trips. All three matches saw Basel fail to score a single goal.
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If there is any hope for Basel, it comes in the form of Eintracht Frank’s most recent Bundesliga fixture. Adi Hutter’s team were thrashed 4-0 by Bayer Leverkusen away at the weekend.
Hutter will field his strongest squad possible with David Abraham and Timmy Chandler given starting roles. Daichi Kamada has starred in the Europa League for Eintracht Frankfurt and is the competition’s joint-highest scorer with six goals. He should start along with Andre Silva and Goncalo Paciencia.
Just ✌️more days to wait until we're back in @EuropaLeague action! 😃#SGEBasel #SGEuropa pic.twitter.com/DTZX70NlgN— Eintracht Frankfurt (@eintracht_eng) March 10, 2020
Just ✌️more days to wait until we're back in @EuropaLeague action! 😃#SGEBasel #SGEuropa pic.twitter.com/DTZX70NlgN
Late goals could decide this fixture. Eintracht Frankfurt have scored 23.4% of their goals in all competitions in the final 15 minutes of matches. Basel have conceded 34% of their goals allowed in the final quarter of an hour.
Hutter is very familiar with Basel after the manager guided Young Boys Bern to Swiss Super League dominance a few seasons ago. History is on Eintracht Frankfurt’s side as they are unbeaten at the Commerzbank Arena in knockout Europa League football (W3, D3).
The Eagles should dominate Basel at home getting a first leg victory. The fixture should be low scoring with under 2.5 goals going in as Eintracht Frankfurt win at home.