The backdrop: “Them or us”
“It’s a knockout match, do or die – either them or us,” said head coach Dino Toppmöller ahead of the second leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout round play-off against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. The tie is finely poised after a 2-2 draw in the first encounter at Lotto Park in Anderlecht last week. In Thursday’s second leg at the Frankfurt Stadion, there must and will be a winner – be it after the regular 90 minutes, extra time or penalties.
Great excitement
Excitement for the match against the Belgian club is “unusually high”, according to striker Omar Marmoush. The Egyptian is relishing the next European night in Frankfurt: “If you give me socks, fans and a stadium, I could play right now. I’m massively looking forward to the game. It’s a decisive game, and that’s what we want and live for!”
“Want to be in the next round”
Ansgar Knauff, who scored a brace in Sunday’s 3-3 draw against SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga, expressed a similar sentiment: “We desperately want to be in the next round.” Union Saint-Gilloise also scored three goals in their league match at the weekend, beating basement boys KV Kortrijk 3-1 in the Jupiler Pro League.
Destination round of 16
On the subject of scoring, Union are yet to score an away goal in the current European campaign. In the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, the Belgian leaders lost 2-0 at Liverpool, 3-0 at LASK and drew 0-0 with Toulouse. Eintracht will be hoping it stays that way on Thursday, when they and their fans will be giving everything at Deutsche Bank Park to make it through to the round of 16 in the Europa Conference League.