Barça visits Frankfurt, a historic fiefdom of women’s football, which has four Champions League titles under its belt. Of course, today’s Eintracht has little to do with the legendary Frankfurt FFC that lifted its last European trophy in 2015. Almost a decade has passed since the German team last played in a Champions League final phase. but on his return to Europe this season he has been able to snatch a victory from another historic club such as Rosengård (1-2) on the first day of the group stage, which makes Niko Arnautis’ team the main favorite to occupy second place in the group.
Despite everything, Barça should not suffer to add their second victory in the competition after beating Benfica (5-0) last week. Jonatan Giráldez’s men arrive at the event after a victory in the classic against Real Madrid (5-0) that serves to inject confidence into a locker room that accumulates a significant load of minutes in a hectic last week. Irene Paredes, who has not yet recovered from tonsillitis, nor Alexia Putellas have traveled to Germany. The Blaugrana captain suffered a blow to her left knee, for which she underwent surgery last year, and continues to suffer discomfort. The club does not want to take any risks with the midfielder, so she is left out of a list that includes the reserve team’s players Giulia Dragoni, Martina Fernández, Lucía Corrales and Vicky López, who on Sunday became the youngest scorer. in a classic.
Freezing temperatures await them, but for Giráldez “there is no excuse” and he is only focused on “giving a good competitive version three days after Madrid.” The Blaugrana coach had the opportunity to watch an Eintracht game last season and highlighted the rhythm they printed in attack and the aggressiveness in defense.
The current European champion continues to be the favorite in its group, made up of Benfica, Eintracht and Rosengård, but visits a land where it has suffered two of its last three defeats in the Champions League. Without going any further, last season Barça won all of its games in this competition with the exception of one, its visit to Bayern in the group stage. The Germans gave them a 3-0 lead in 60 minutes, with qualification already assured and with nothing at stake, and Geyse’s goal only served to cover up the defeat (3-1).
The previous season, they also visited German soil with the same result: a defeat against Wolfsburg in the semifinals. In this case, the 2-0 of the ‘wolves’ did not prevent the classification of Barça, which had won (5-1) at a Camp Nou that registered its second world attendance record.
