Europa League Battle: Spurs and Frankfurt Set for Quarter-Final Duel

Tottenham Hotspur’s manager is under pressure as he prepares his team to face Eintracht Frankfurt at home in the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday night. After a tough loss to Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-finals, the focus has shifted toward making a strong push in the Europa League to salvage Spurs’ season. Postecoglou remains hopeful that he can secure a trophy for the club in his two-year tenure.

It hasn’t been an easy week for Postecoglou. He’s had to navigate speculation about his future, and his team was denied a potential point against Chelsea due to a VAR decision, all while hearing boos from Spurs supporters after making substitutions at Stamford Bridge. In that match, Spurs lost 1-0, and despite Pape Sarr finding the net late in the game, it was disallowed for a foul. Postecoglou tried to connect with the away fans during the match, but he later denied it.

A recent narrow 3-1 win against relegated Southampton didn’t help ease tensions between Postecoglou and the fans, but a strong showing in this first leg against Frankfurt could change that narrative. In the previous round, Spurs had struggled to perform well away at AZ Alkmaar, leaving them with a one-goal deficit to overcome at home, which they managed with a 3-1 victory.

In the Europa League league phase, Spurs finished fourth and are currently third-favourites to win the tournament. However, before they can think about the final, they must first get through two challenging matches, with Lazio likely awaiting the winners if they can get past Bodo/Glimt.

This match marks Spurs’ first European quarter-final since 2019, when they famously knocked out Manchester City on away goals, going on to reach the final. But they’ve had a tough history in quarter-finals, having only succeeded once in their last thirteen attempts. This time, they’ll need to break that trend to keep their hopes alive.

Spurs faced Frankfurt during the group stages of the Champions League in the 2022-23 season, but their only knockout encounter came back in the 1981-82 Cup Winners’ Cup, where Spurs edged out Frankfurt 3-2 on aggregate.

Frankfurt is no stranger to this stage, reaching their third Europa League quarter-final in six years. Interestingly, they’ve never won the first leg of their previous quarter-final ties but still managed to progress, including a memorable run that saw them beat Barcelona on the way to winning the competition in 2022.

In terms of form, Frankfurt has struggled a bit lately, winning only five of their last thirteen matches, and they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Werder Bremen over the weekend. Despite this, they remain in third place in the Bundesliga. Spurs, on the other hand, will be without Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso for the next few weeks, which may exclude them from both legs of this tie, and Radu Dragusin is out for the season due to an ACL injury.

Timo Werner won’t be able to play against Spurs, having not been registered in their Europa League squad, but Richarlison could feature following his return from injury. Rodrigo Bentancur is back from suspension, while Postecoglou has been cautious with Micky van den Ven and Destiny Udogie, who are injury-prone.