Who would have thought it? When the Eagles finally put an end to a run of nine games without a win back in mid-December with a 2-0 victory at FC Augsburg, it was the start of a meteoric rise in the space of two months that has taken them from tenth to third place in the table. Another 2-0 win, this time at home to 1. FC Köln last weekend, was their fourth since the second half of the season began and a new club record, as well as their eighth victory in the last nine matches.
With 39 points from 21 games, Frankfurt are in the best position they’ve been in for almost three decades. “Our points haul tells us exactly how well we are playing," said head coach Adi Hütter after the win over Köln. “We haven’t stolen any wins – every one of them was the result of hard work.”
“Hope to get a win over Bayern”
“We know that if we carry on the way we have been, we can beat anyone we come up against," a confident Kevin Trapp added. “We’ve seen in the past that you can get points off Bayern as well. A lot of teams have been able to make life tough for them. With the form that we’re in and the confidence that we’ve got right now, we can – and hope that we will – get a win over Bayern. We’ve got the quality.”
Neither team will dare to take the other lightly, with Hütter pointing out that in Bayern, “the best team in the world” are making the trip to Frankfurt. And since last Thursday that title is official, after the Munich men won 1-0 in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup against UANL Tigres, who have former Eagle Carlos Salcedo in their ranks. Strike power SGE versus FCB will also see the two most potent attacks in the Bundesliga facing off. Bayern have already found the back of the net 61 times this season, Eintracht 43. And in Robert Lewandowski (25 goals) and André Silva (18 goals), the league’s two leading scorers also cross swords on Bundesliga Matchday 22.
Match info
Kick-off: Saturday 20 February, 15:30 CET, Matchday 22
Stadium: Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt
