Eintracht Frankfurt will play European football for the third season running – and for the first time in the UEFA Europa Conference League – after a 3-1 aggregate win over PFC Levski Sofia saw them into the group stage.
There were four changes to the starting line-up from Sunday’s draw at Mainz 05, with Tuta, Aurélio Buta, Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe and Paxten Aaronson – a first start for the American after nine substitute appearances – coming in for Hrvoje Smolcic, Ansgar Knauff, Philipp Max and Randal Kolo Muani.
Full commitment, plenty of possession
Roared on by their home crowd, Eintracht took the initiative from the start and looked to put pressure on the opposition defence. Buta in particular caused problems with attacks down the right, and he delivered a number of dangerous balls into the box, but nobody in a black shirt could get on the end of them. The Eagles thought they had taken the lead through Omar Marmoush in the 25th minute, but the Egyptian was a fraction offside when he received the ball.
Three bookings for the Bulgarians and three breaks in play for treatment told the story of a fiercely contested first half, with Kristijan Jakic unable to continue following a clash of heads. He was replaced by Hugo Larsson just after the half-hour mark as the Eagles continued to dominate, with the visitors only rarely launching attacks of their own. Mario Götze’s scuffed shot wide was the closest the hosts came to a breakthrough before half-time, though.
Super sub Ngankam
It was a similar story after the break, with Eintracht becoming increasingly camped in the Sofia half and directing much of their attacking play down the right, while Levski were content to soak up the pressure and wait for their opportunities on the counter. The best chance so far came in the 54th minute, when Pacho lifted the ball over the top into the path of Dina Ebimbe, who fired just wide on the volley.
Dino Toppmöller freshened things up in attack in the 70th minute, bringing on Jessic Ngankam and Jens Petter Hauge for Marmoush and Buta. And it had the desired effect, with Ngankam going close just minutes later – although the offside flag subsequently went up. There was no offside five minutes later, though, when Eintracht’s persistence finally paid off. A well-worked move involving several players ended with Götze knocking the ball back for Ngankam, who slotted it in for the opening goal.
The visitors now had to take risks and in doing so they allowed Eintracht to hit them on the break. Ngankam was the provider this time, setting up Ellyes Skhiri to seal the victory and a place in the Conference League group stage, the draw for which takes place on Friday.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Tuta, Koch, Pacho – Buta (Hauge 70’), Jakic (Larsson 31’), Skhiri, Dina Ebimbe – Götze, Aaronson (Max 83’) – Marmoush (Ngankam 70’)
Goals
1-0 Ngankam (79’)
2-0 Skhiri (86’)
