Marseille will travel to Germany this weekend to take on Europa League defending champions Eintracht Frankfurt in the first group stage game of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League.
Venue: Deutsche Bank Park (Frankfurt
Key Statistics
Eintracht Frankfurt have won eight times in 12 games against French opponents (D1, L3).
They have scored ten goals in their last three games.
The hosts are unbeaten in their last three home games (W2, D1).
Marseille have failed to score in their last two games.
The Olympians have a 29% win rate against German opponents (W6, D3, L12).
None of Marseille’s last 22 UCL games ended level (W5, L17).
Alexis Sánchez has contributed to three of Marseille’s last six UCL goals (G2, A1).
Head to head
Frankfurt have won all three head-to-head meetings between both sides.
Latest performances in all competitions
Frankfurt: W-W-W-L-L
Marseille: L-L-W-L-W
Frankfurt
Frankfurt will look to make it four wins in four games when they welcome Marseille for this all-important UEFA Champions League fixture.
The hosts have it all to play for in their last two fixtures having taken four points from their opening 12 points. They currently sit at the bottom of Group D but have just three points separating the four teams in the group.
This means that though they are bottom of the pile, Eintracht Frankfurt could still qualify from this group if they win this game and the next one.
They hold the necessary form to trouble the group having scored a whopping ten goals since losing 3-2 against Spurs in the last UCL round (W3). They will also be buoyed by their impressive competitive record against French opponents (W8, D1, L3), which includes three wins against the Olympians.
Possible Frankfurt starting line-up
Kevin Trapp; Almamy Toure, Kristijan Jakic, Evan NDicka; Eric Ebimbe, Djibril Sow, Daichi Kamada, Christopher Lenz; Mario Götze, Jesper Lindstrom; Randal Kolo Muani.
Injured: Ansgar Knauff, Makoto Hasebe
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Tuta
Marseille
Marseille have seen their early season form disappear after a series of poor results in recent games.
The French Ligue 1 side come into this tie with back-to-back losses in their domestic games since beating Sporting Lisbon 2-0 in their last European affair.
Their last loss was a 1-0 to Lens and made it two games without a goal for the visitors. After the game, Marseille boss Igor Tudor stated that “football is unfair.”
But the French side now have the chance to put smiles on the faces of their supporters as victory here, combined with Spurs winning their own tie against Sporting, will see them through to the round of 16.
However, a mere 29% win rate against German opponents isn’t likely to inspire much confidence (W6, D3, L12). Marseille are seeking to end a rotten run of five straight defeats ‘to nil’ when playing in Germany.
Possible Marseille starting line-up
Pau Lopez; Chancel Mbemba, Leonardo Balerdi, Sead Kolašinac; Jonathan Clauss, Valentin Rongier, Jordan Veretout, Nuno Tavares; Matteo Guendouzi, Amine Harit; Alexis Sanchez.
Injured: Eric Bailly
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Frankfurt 2-1 Marseille
