Our prediction for this Europa League match:
Antwerp and Eintracht Frankfurt take on each other at Bosuilstadion in what is expected to be one of the most exciting games of Thursday’s program in the Europa League. Antwerp kicked off their EL campaign with a 2-1 loss at Olympiakos, and they will have yet another mountain to climb against Eintracht. Even though the Belgian outfit are on a four-game winning run in the Jupiler League, home win should not be considered. De Laet returns from a domestic ban, while all Yusuf, Nsimba, Engels, Coopman, and Balikwisha are likely to miss the game with injuries. Midfielder Jelle Bataille serves a one-game ban.
Die Adler, on the other hand, have yet to find their best form at the start of the new Bundesliga campaign, with the team drawing each of their previous five league fixtures. Eintracht played out a 1-1 draw with Fenerbahce in their EL opener, and seeing that Antwerp are tough to be at home, the share of spoils is on the cards at Bosuilstadion. Defender Erik Durm has joined Christopher Lenz and Sebastian Rode in the recovery room.
Highlighted Player (Lior Refaelov):
Lior Refaelov is an Israeli footballer playing as an attacking midfielder for the Belgium giants with whom he has been a mainstay since his arrival in 2011. Rafaelov began his career at Maccabi Haifa where he played 161 league appearances and scored 30 goals before moving to Belgium.
The experienced 30-year-old Israel international has made his senior debut for his country in 2007 and has since earned over 30 caps for Israel. Lior Rafaelov is a player of vast international experience despite the fact Club Brugge are his first and so far only club in Europe.
The 30-year-old attacking midfielder is a major force upfront who has scored six times during Brugge’s Europa League campaign in 2014-15, while he also scored the winner in the Belgian Cup final to earn his club a first trophy in eight years. Last season Rafaleov repeated the feat, having scored in the 2016 Belgian Cup Final, but it wasn’t enough for Club Brugge to avoid getting defeated 2-1 to Standard Liege.
Highlighted Team (Frankfurt):
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German football club who is active in the German Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1920 after a fusion between different football clubs from Frankfurt. Eintracht Frankfurt is playing in the Bundesliga since 2011/2012 and is known for being a stable club in the Bundesliga. Currently the club is playing their home games in the Commerzbank-Arena which holds a capacity of 51000 seats. The club colour of Eintracht Fankfurt are black, red and white. Eintracht Frankfurt is called the Adlertrager by their fans. The club’s rival Kickers Offenbach.
Eintracht Frankfurt is one of the few clubs in Germany that won the Bundesliga; in the season 1958/1959 were able to win the league. Other important prizes Eintracht Frankfurt won are the DFB Pokal (4 times) and the the UEFA Cup in 1980. There are many famous football players that played for EIntracht Frankfurt in their career like Pfaff, Moller, Low, Okocha, Kopke and Berthold.