Eintracht Frankfurt continue tough schedule against Standard Liège

Manuel Veth –

Frankfurt vs Standard Liège – Thursday, October 24, 20:00BST/21:00CEST – Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Standard Liège will take place at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Eintracht Frankfurt had a fantastic matchday 8 in the Bundesliga. The Eagles smashed Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in what was deemed the opening of seven weeks of truth.

Following the match against Leverkusen, Frankfurt will face Standard Liège twice, Gladbach, St. Pauli, Bayern Munich, Freiburg, and Arsenal. Ahead of the game against Leverkusen, the talk at Frankfurt was all about looking forward to the big matchups against teams like Standard, Bayern, and Arsenal.

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For many years Eintracht Frankfurt have been sleeping giant, a sleeping giant kissed awake by CEO of sport Fredi Bobić. Bobić took over when the club was in the relegation zone, and the club have since won the DFB Pokal and reached the semifinal of the Europa League despite losing key players every year.

Once again, Frankfurt have assembled an exciting team, which was evident on Friday against Leverkusen. “In many parts of the game,” Frankfurt head coach Adi Hütter saw the sort of football that the club played last season. “We aggressively took the game on and tried to win all the one-v-one situations,” Hütter said.

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Strikers André Silva, Gonçalo Paciência and Bas Dost have seamlessly replaced Luka Jović, Sébastien Haller and Ante Rebić. That is bad news for Standard Liège heading to the Waldstadion.

Under head coach Michel Preud’homme, Standard are currently second in the Jupiler League, three points behind leaders Brugge. The Belgians will be certainly a tough opponent but make no mistake; Frankfurt will be the favourites on Thursday night.

Frankfurt vs Standard Liège – Players to look out for:

Gonçalo Paciência #39 – Eintracht Frankfurt

Gonçalo Paciência missed much of last season with a serious injury suffered during the summer training camp. This year the Portuguese forward was able to train throughout the summer, and the results have been impressive. The forward scored twice on Friday against Leverkusen and currently leads Frankfurt in scoring with eight goals and three assists in 17 games across all competitions.

Goncalo Paciencia of Frankfurt reacts during the Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Duesseldorf at Commerzbank-Arena on September 01, 2019 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Renaud Emond #9 – Standard Liège

Renaud Emond has been in good form this season. The striker has scored six goals in nine Jupiler Pro League games this season. The 27-year-old scored a career-high 12 goals in 28 games last year and is on track to best that number this season.

Standard’s Renaud Emond celebrates after scoring during a soccer match between Standard de Liege and Excel Mouscron, Sunday 18 August 2019 in Liege, on the fourth day of the ‘Jupiler Pro League’ Belgian soccer championship season 2019-2020. BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR

Frankfurt vs Standard Liège – Match Stats

• Eintracht have failed to score in their four matches against Belgian opposition, losing ties 1-0 against Mechelen in the 1988/89 European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final and Gent in the second round of the 1991/92 UEFA Cup.
• This is Standard’s 30th UEFA match against German opponents (W7 D8 L14).
• They have won just three of their 16 previous games in Germany (D4 L9) and are without a victory in their last eight visits.

Futbolgrad Network Prediction: Frankfurt vs Standard Liège – 2-1

Frankfurt vs Standard Liège – Lineups

Eintracht Frankfurt:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Rönnow – Abraham, Hasebe, Hinteregger – Kostić, Sow, Rode, da Costa – Gaćinović – Silva, Paciência

Head Coach: Adi Hütter

Standard Liège:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Bodart – Gavory, Laifis, Vanheusden, Fai – Cimirot, Bastien – Amallah – Mpoku, Avenatti, Lestienne

Head Coach: Michel Preud’homme

Manuel Veth is the owner and Editor in Chief of the Futbolgrad Network. He also works as a freelance journalist and among others, contributes to Forbes.com and Pro Soccer USA. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in History from King’s College London, and his thesis is titled: “Selling the People’s Game: Football’s transition from Communism to Capitalism in the Soviet Union and its Successor States,” which is available HERE. Manuel has lived in Amsterdam, Kyiv, Moscow, Tbilisi, London, and currently splits his time between Victoria, BC, and Munich, Germany.  Follow Manuel on Twitter @ManuelVeth.