Eintracht Frankfurt Vs. Ajax Prediction: Die Adler Mission Secures Tickets To Europa League Quarter-Finals

Michy Batshuayi, the opposing defender of Eintracht Frankfurt (photo: x @Eintracht)

JAKARTA Eintracht Frankfurt will try to secure a place in the Europa League quarter-finals when they host Ajax in the second leg of the last 16, Thursday night March 13 or Friday morning WIB. With a 2-1 victory in Amsterdam last week, Dino Toppm\"oller's team only needed to avoid defeat to advance to the next round.

Frankfurt managed to turn things around in the first leg after falling behind due to Brian Brobbey's goals. Hugo Larsson and Ellies Skhiri then scored to bring the Bundesliga team ahead ahead ahead of the match at Deutsche Bank Park.

Statistics show that Frankfurt were very strong when playing at home in European competitions. They have won the last three home games without conceding the best record in more than 30 years. In addition, Frankfurt have always qualified for the next round in the previous seven chances when they won in the first leg of the away game.

Despite being impressive in Europe, Frankfurt's performance in the Bundesliga is in decline. They lost in the last three games, including a 1-4 loss to Bayer Leverkusen and a shock 1-2 loss to Union Berlin, where Hugo Ekitike missed a penalty in the 95th minute. Frankfurt are currently still in the top four, but are only one point ahead of Freiburg in the race for next season's Champions League tickets.

On the other hand, Frankfurt have a perfect record against Dutch clubs at home. The last time they hosted a team from Eredivisie was in the 1980-81 season, when they beat Utrecht 3-1.

Ajax faces a tough task of turning things around after losing at home. History also doesn't side with the Eredivisie team, as they have been knocked out in the last eight of the last nine chances after losing in the first leg of home games in European competitions.

However, Ajax had fond memories of getting rid of Real Madrid with a 4-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2019. Coach Francesco Farioli certainly hopes his team can repeat similar wonders in Frankfurt.

One option for Ajax is to try to force the game into extra time. Statistics show that they have always managed to qualify in the last four matches in European competitions that have to go on to extra time, including when they beat Union Saint-Griffice in the previous round despite playing with 10 people.

Ajax came into this match with a 1-0 win over Zwolle at the Eredivisie, which kept them eight points ahead of PSV Eindhoven at the top of the table. However, being eliminated early from the Europa League would be a crushing blow to the club that had also failed at KNVB Beker after being knocked out by AZ Alkmaar earlier this year.

In this match, Eintracht Frankfurt will be strengthened again by Ellies Skhiri, who missed the defeat against Union Berlin due to suspension. However, the Tunisian midfielder must be careful because he has collected a yellow card and can be banned from playing if he gets a card again.

Frankfurt also lost Nyamdi Collins due to suspension after receiving a yellow card in the first leg. In addition, Igor Matanovic (leg injury), Aurele Amenda (unregistered), and Timothy Chandler (hamstring injury) were also absent.

Michy Batshuayi, who scored his first goal for Frankfurt last weekend, is likely to have a duet with Hugo Ekitike up front. Ekitike himself is in a difficult period after scoring only two goals in the last eight games.

Meanwhile Ajax will lose Jordan Henderson who was suspended after receiving a yellow card in the first leg. However, Davy Klaassen was able to return to play after serving a ban on playing due to a red card in the match against Union SG.

In addition, Ajax still lost Wout Weghorst (leg injury), Youri Regeer ( ankle injury), and Owen Wijndal (knee injury).

In the goalkeeper position, Jay Gorter will most likely play for Remko Pasveer, who was injured in the first leg. Ajax actually has a new goalkeeper, Matheus, but he is not registered in their Europa League squad.

Frankfurt will rely on their strength at home to secure tickets to the quarter-finals. However, Ajax has an impressive comeback history in Europe, and they will definitely try to put up fierce resistance until the end of the game,

Eintracht Frankfurt (4-4-2):Trapp; Kristensen, Tuta, Theate, Brown; Knauff, Larsson, Skhiri, Gotze; Ekitike, Batshuayi

Ajax (4-3-3):Gorter;Gaaei,Sutalo,Baas,Hato; Fitz-Jim, Mokio, Taylor; Berghuis, Brobbey, Godts