Head coach Dino Toppmöller made three changes to his starting line-up following the 2-1 defeat by VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. Niels Nkounkou, Hrvoje Smolcic and Mario Götze came in for Philipp Max, Aurelio Buta and Ansgar Knauff, with Toppmöller reverting to a three-man defence.
Lively first half
In freezing temperatures in Frankfurt, Eintracht warmed up and fashioned a number of chances inside the opening 10 minutes. Hugo Larsson and Omar Marmoush both fired off target from decent positions, before Fares Chaibi’s powerful shot drew the first save from Dominik Kotarski. After a quieter period, the Eagles picked up the pace again with Nkounkou testing Kotarski after a surging run into the area.
PAOK threatened now and then on the counter and had their best opportunity on 29 minutes, when Kevin Trapp showed good reflexes to block Thomas Murg’s close-range effort with his feet. Eintracht continued to have the majority of the play, though, and had another good chance in the 32nd minute. From a Chaibi free-kick, the ball fell at the feet of Marmoush from close range, but Kotarski reacted well to smother. That was the last notable action of the first 45 minutes as the half wound down.
PAOK clinical
The visitors from Thessaloniki registered the first attempt of the second half. Murg hit a long-range free-kick into the side netting after Ellyes Skhiri had been penalised for a foul, and the Tunisian had to go off injured a few minutes later. Then, following a PAOK corner, Tomasz Kedziora took advantage of some hesitant defending in the six-yard box to poke in the opening goal. Frankfurt came up with the perfect response, though, and levelled just three minutes later. Chaibi’s cross from the left was perfect for Marmoush to glance in at the near post and notch up his fourth goal in five Conference League games.
Eintracht were briefly celebrating two minutes later when Larsson netted the rebound from Nkounkou’s shot, but the Frenchman was adjudged to be a fraction offside. With their tails up, the Eagles had another good opportunity shortly after but Junior Dina Ebimbe dragged his effort just wide of the far post.
The hosts looked the more likely to score next but it was PAOK who took their chance when it came. Substitute Brandon Thomas’ shot was only parried by Trapp into the path of Andrija Zivkovic, who buried the rebound to put his team back in front. Frankfurt had one more big chance: substitute Paxten Aaronson cut the ball back to Dina Ebimbe, whose header was flicked on by Larsson. The ball dropped for Marmoush in front of goal but the Egyptian shanked it over the bar. Substitute Kristijan Jakic then saw red in stoppage time following two yellow cards in quick succession.
The result confirms that Eintracht will finish second in Group G of the UEFA Europa Conference League, irrespective of the result in their final match against Aberdeen, and go through to the play-offs against a third-placed team from the UEFA Europa League.
