Europa League: Eintracth Frankfrurt vs. Barcelona Preview, Odds, Prediction

Eintracht Frankfurt hosts Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Europa League this Thursday. The Spaniards are favorites but don’t think for one second that Eintracht doesn’t have the ambitions and the plan on how to beat the great rivals. They have been preparing for this battle for quite some time, and with the help of the home fans, the Eagles could surprise Blaugrana. On the other hand, Xavi’s boys are on the rise, and they improved their performances significantly in the last month or so. Trashing Real in Madrid is the best possible proof of that.

Preview

Eintracht Frankfurt (+333) didn’t lose in the past six games. But the situation isn’t shinny, as they won the first three and had three draws in a row after that. One of them was in the EL against Betis at home, where they lost during the regular 90 minutes but scored a goal in the extra time to advance to the next stage.

There aren’t too many goals when the Eagles play, and only three in the previous nine were with over 2.5 scores. Five of them during this span were with one side netting, and do know that overall, Eintracht has problems with scoring.

Only one victory in the recent seven home clashes isn’t couraging for the fans, nor the players before Thursday’s contest. The main reason for that is the above-mentioned problems with scoring because the Eagles failed to net on four occasions during that stretch.

Barcelona (-125) didn’t lose in the last 13 events. Xavi’s crew posted 10 wins and three draws, and are currently on a four-victory streak that saw them beating Osasuna, Galatasaray, Real and at last Sevilla. They scored at least four goals in the first three mentioned clashes.

The defense was also at a high level, allowing just one goal in the recent five meetings across all the competitions. Barca’s game went to a higher level under Xavi, and right now, we need to say that Blaugrana looks like a serious contender to win the EL.

Another thing that goes in their favor is that Barca won five consecutive away games, in all of them hitting the back of the rival’s net at least twice. The transition and the counter-attacks have been their biggest weapon, and it seems that there aren’t many teams in Europe that might handle that.

Latest News

Ramaj is out for the home team, while Lenz and Da Costa remain doubtful and will be a game-time decision.

Dani Alves, Depay, Dest, Fati, Sergi Roberto, Umtiti and De Jong are all out for the guests, but many of these guys were absent for quite some time.

Head to Head Games

Eintracht and Barcelona didn’t meet until now.

Prediction

The problem for the Eagles is scoring, while on the other side, Barca’s defense is on the rise. Also, the previous results suggest that the Spaniards play much better on the road than at home, and when we add up these factors and a few more, betting on Barca’s victory comes out as the best possible choice. We’ve seen them handling much better teams than Eintracht pretty easily, and we expect another confident victory from their side.

Pick: Barcelona -125