The opposition
SK Slavia Praha are one of Czech Republic’s most established clubs, having been founded by students in the Czech capital of Prague on 2 November 1892. Their image is defined by the club colours of red and white as well as the badge of the red star, which is proudly displayed on the chest of the shirt.
Seven-time winners of both the Czech league and cup, Slavia currently lead the Chance Liga with 35 points and are still unbeaten after 13 rounds of matches. Their closest challengers, trailing by eight points, are Viktoria Plzeň, another of Eintracht’s opponents in the UEFA Europa League.
Tactics
Coach Jindrich Trpisovsky generally deploys three at the back with blocks of four and three in front of them. That was also the case in the last two league matches against Hradec Kralove and Duklar Praha, as well as the cup third-round tie against Benatky nad Jizerou.
Trpisovsky has mixed it up in the Europa League so far with a 3-4-3 in the first match and then a 4-2-3-1 formation in the next two – with mixed success. The 2-0 win in the opener against Ludogorets was followed by a 1-1 draw with Ajax and a 1-0 defeat by Athletic Bilbao.
Style of play
Slavia play an intensive game in and out of possession, characterised by systematic pressing. The team hardly allow opponents any time to string together attacks by putting the receiver under pressure early and often doubling up in order to force turnovers. Only a few passes are allowed until the defensive process kicks in.
When they have the ball, the Red and Whites attack with several players in order to create overloads and use dynamic movement. The wide players make deep runs behind the defensive line, and that’s where much of the threat comes from: Slavia have hit 83 crosses in the current UEL campaign, second only to Galatasaray (103). They’ve also made the third-most passes in the penalty box of all 36 teams.
Absentees
Tomas Vlcek (knee surgery), Jindrich Stanek (shoulder) and Lukas Vorlicky (knee) are sidelined for the visitors.
Head-to-head
This is the first meeting between Eintracht Frankfurt and Slavia Praha.
