Eintracht Frankfurt vs Tottenham LIVE: Europa League team news and updates – UK Times

The whistle goes and the visitors get us underway!

The teams are walking out onto the sodden pitch now on a wet night in front of a hostile Frankfurt crowd. Nearly ready for kick-off…

Can Spurs secure a famous win on the road?

A reminder of tonight’s teams:

Eintracht Frankfurt XI: Santos, Kristensen, Kock, Tuta, Theate, Skhiri, Larsson, Bahoya, Gotze, Brown, Ekitike.

Tottenham XI: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Bergvall, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Tel.

Ten minutes to go at the Deutsche Bank Park.

Can Tottenham salvage their season with a rare win away from home?

Or will Eintracht Frankfurt secure a third Europa League semi-final, and pile even more pressure on the London side?

The winner of this tie will face the winner of Lazio vs Bodo/Glimt, which also kicks off at 8pm.

The Norwegian side have a 2-0 lead from last week’s opening leg.

On the other side of the draw, Manchester United are in action against Lyon and in a similar situation to Tottenham having drawn 2-2 at home last week.

They’ll face the winner of Athletic Club vs Rangers, which was goalless at Ibrox in the first leg.

For those surprised to see Son Heung-Min out of the squad for this fixture, the Tottenham captain has been hampered by a foot injury in recent weeks and stayed at home as a result.

“Sonny didn’t travel,” Postecoglou said on Wednesday. “He’s been battling with a foot problem. It’s got too painful so we made a decision to leave him at home.

“Sonny tried really hard. We left him out at the weekend to try to allow him time to recover but he couldn’t make it. We’ve had these challenges like this all year, this is just another.”

Much of the discussion of Tottenham’s season has centred on the fate of manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian has had a fractious relationship with fans this season and has suffered a major injury crisis, but even with the majority of his first team back and fully fit, the performances have yet to really improve.

Quizzed on Wednesday about whether he’ll still be in the dugout by the end of the season, he said, “No, no idea”.

“We have a game tomorrow night, but it’s not something I need to think about. I’ve never thought about those things in terms of what is important.

“What is important is the game that’s a massive opportunity for this group of players and this football club to get closer to achieving what everyone wants to achieve.”

The hosts are looking to become just the third team to reach three or more Europa League semi-finals, having previously reached the last four in 2018-19 and 2021-22 – when they went on to lift the trophy.

Only Sevilla (five semi-finals) and Manchester United (three, although they would move up to four with victory over Lyon in tonight’s second leg) have reached that mark.

Spurs have the upper hand, winning two of the sides’ five meetings in European competition and losing one.

Eintracht’s only win came the only time the sides faced off in Germany in the knockout stages, a 2-1 victory in the second leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final in 1981-82.

That history likely won’t trouble Tottenham too much, with the knowledge that they beat the German side much more recently – 3-2 in the Champions League in 2022 – and ground out a 0-0 draw on their last trip to Frankfurt in the previous leg.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou cut a cheerier figure than usual after the first leg, as his side played some entertaining football and came back from 1-0 goal – although they wasted some big changes to take a lead to Germany.

Asked about the narrative of Spurs’ dismal season, he said ahead of tonight’s tie, “I don’t see it as salvaging a season. I see it as an opportunity to do something special. Depends on your outlook on life.

“These opportunities don’t come round often, that’s the message to the players. Even in good seasons these opportunities don’t happen that often, it’s a situation that certainly doesn’t happen often to this club.”