Head coach Oliver Glasner made two alterations to his starting line-up following Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Union Berlin. Djibril Sow came in for Mario Götze, who was forced to sit out with an ankle problem, while fit-again Kristijan Jakic was preferred to Luca Pellegrini.
Spurs wasteful
In front of a capacity crowd of 50,500 at Frankfurt Stadion, the energy in the stands was matched on the pitch by the Europa League holders and the 2019 Champions League runners-up. Tottenham had more of the play in the early stages without creating any clear-cut chances, Emerson’s volley over their best effort. The Eagles then grew into the game, with Sebastian Rode’s effort being deflected over for the first of three successive corners.
Spurs survived that spell of pressure and went back on the attack, Harry Kane narrowly missing Son Heung-min’s ball across goal and then firing just wide from distance. After a brief lull in the action, Son then went close himself, shooting just wide from the edge of the area. The visitors went close again minutes later, when Ivan Perisic’s ricochet bounced inches wide of the post, and Eintracht were somewhat relieved to go in at half-time with the score still at 0-0.
Scrappy contest
The Eagles started the second half on the front foot and had their best opportunity of the game on 50 minutes, when Sow chipped the ball into the path of Ansgar Knauff, whose first-time flying volley was saved by Hugo Lloris. At the other end, Son had another good chance when he was set up by Richarlison, but again missed the target.
It continued to be end-to-end, although the majority of shots were blocked or off-target rather than really testing either goalkeeper. Jesper Lindström had a good chance when the ball came to him in the penalty area after the Eagles had pressed the visitors into a mistake from a goal kick, but he fired over. The chances dried up after that, with both sides reluctant to go all out for a winner and lacking the precision in their attacking play to create a decisive chance, and so it ended 0-0.
Summary: Hard-won point
This was a game that deserved a goal but also one that neither side deserved to lose. Eintracht can take plenty of positives from another batting performance, not least the fact they kept Harry Kane at bay and registered another clean sheet. With these two teams now level on four points, it’s still all to play for in Group D ahead of next Wednesday’s return fixture in London.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka – Jakic, Sow, Rode (Pellegrini 71’), Knauff – Lindström (Dina Ebimbe 87’), Kamada – Kolo Muani (Borré 57’)
Goals
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