Manuel Veth –
Standard Liège vs Frankfurt – Thursday, November 7, 17:55GMT/18:55CET – Stade Maurice Dufrasne, Liège, Belgium
Standard Liege vs Krasnodar will take place at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne in Liege, Belgium. (Photo by Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga Photo/EuroFootball/Getty Images)
Standard Liège spent €29.84 million on 23 new players this summer. It is a rebuild under dramatic fashion under head coach Michel Preud’homme.
The results, however, have justified the moves. Standard are second in the Jupiler League, six points behind league leaders Brugge, who have one game in hand. In the Europa League results have been a bit more complicated to come by—just one win in the first three games mean that Standard on the brink of elimination.
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Eintracht Frankfurt, in the meantime, can advance with a win on Thursday. The Eagles recovered well from their opening game defeat to Arsenal.
At the same time, Frankfurt will be without their away fans in Belgium. UEFA has banned Frankfurt’s away support after problems last season. The city of Liège has taken this even one step further and issued a statement banning all Frankfurt supporters from the city limit for Thursday in what is a drastic step that defies European integration.
Even without their support, Frankfurt are in a good position to get a result in Belgium. The Eagles have been in fantastic form lately smashing Bayer Leverkusen (4-2) and Bayern Munich (5-1) at home. Sandwiched, in between, was a disappointing result was a spectacular 4-2 defeat to Gladbach and the 2-1 win against Standard at home.
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The weeks of truth as they were called ahead of the Leverkusen game have shown that Frankfurt have hardly missed a beat since losing key players in the summer. “The reality is we are sixth [in the Bundesliga],” Adi Hütter said downplaying the success of his side in recent weeks.
Frankfurt are sixth, but they are part of the top group in the Bundesliga. In Europe, the Eagles are just one win removed from advancing to the round of 32. The Eagle is soaring and will be the favourite against Standard Liège on Thursday.
Standard Liège vs Frankfurt – Players to look out for:
Renaud Emond #9 – Standard Liège
Renaud Emond has been in good form this season. The striker has scored six goals in ten Jupiler Pro League games this season. The 27-year-old scored a career-high 12 goals in 28 games last year and is on track to best that number this season.
Standard’s Renaud Emond celebrates after scoring during a soccer match between Standard de Liege and Excel Mouscron, Sunday 18 August 2019 in Liege, on the fourth day of the ‘Jupiler Pro League’ Belgian soccer championship season 2019-2020. BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR
Gonçalo Paciência #39 – Eintracht Frankfurt
Gonçalo Paciência missed much of last season with a serious injury suffered during the summer training camp. This year the Portuguese forward was able to train throughout the summer, and the results have been impressive. The forward scored a fantastic goal against Bayern and currently leads Frankfurt in scoring with nine goals and three assists in 21 games across all competitions.
Goncalo Paciencia of Frankfurt reacts during the Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Duesseldorf at Commerzbank-Arena on September 01, 2019 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Standard Liège vs Frankfurt – Match Stats
- Before their 2-1 home win against Standard, Eintracht had failed to score in their first four matches against Belgian opposition, losing both ties 1-0 on aggregate.
- Standard have won only seven of their 16 UEFA Europa League home group stage matches (D5 L4).
- Standard triumphed in all three in Liege last season and are now unbeaten in ten European home fixtures (W6 D4) since losing 0-3 to Feyenoord in December 2014.
Futbolgrad Network Prediction: Standard Liège vs Frankfurt – 1-2
Standard Liège vs Frankfurt – Lineups
Standard Liège:
Formation: 4-5-1
Bodart – Gavory, Laifis, Vanheusden, Vojvoda – Lestienne, Amallah, Bastien, Cimirot, Mpoku – Emond
Head Coach: Michel Preud’homme
Eintracht Frankfurt:
Formation: 3-4-1-2
Rönnow – Hinteregger, Hasebe, Abraham – Kostić, Rode, Sow, Da Costa – Kamada – Silva, Paciência
Head Coach: Adi Hütter
Manuel Veth is the owner and Editor in Chief of the Futbolgrad Network. He also works as a freelance journalist and among others, contributes to Forbes.com and Pro Soccer USA. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in History from King’s College London, and his thesis is titled: “Selling the People’s Game: Football’s transition from Communism to Capitalism in the Soviet Union and its Successor States,” which is available HERE. Manuel has lived in Amsterdam, Kyiv, Moscow, Tbilisi, London, and currently splits his time between Victoria, BC, and Munich, Germany. Follow Manuel on Twitter @ManuelVeth.
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