Preview: Leverkusen coming to town | OneFootball

Eintracht face their next big challenge on Saturday in the shape of Leverkusen, hoping to continue making progress with “small steps”.

As things stand: Leverkusen turning the corner

Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen both struggled for form at the start of 2026, but while the Eagles are still waiting for their first victory of the year, Leverkusen have already put an end to their drought ahead of visiting Deutsche Bank Park on Saturday (kick-off 15:30 CET). 

Following three consecutive defeats, Kasper Hjulmand’s side overcame Werder Bremen 1-0 in the Bundesliga last weekend, and followed it up with a 3-0 victory over Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. That result meant Leverkusen finished the league phase in 16th place, earning them a spot in the knockout round play-offs. 

Eintracht’s Champions League fate was sealed last week, but the lessons from an educational European campaign remain. “We have a very young team and we have to admit that we perhaps weren’t quite mature enough yet for the Champions League,” said board member for sport Markus Krösche. “But there’s always room to grow for every player and for us as a team. You learn the most from negative experiences. The team will emerge from this stronger for having come through it.

“When I saw the atmosphere in the stadium and how the fans supported the team, that was Eintracht Frankfurt in a nutshell,” Krösche continued. “That togetherness is important to be successful again.”

Ansgar Knauff also emphasised the positives in the wake of Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur: “We threw ourselves into it and gave it our all, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. We know that our fans are behind us and we want to celebrate a win with them this weekend.”

Looking back: Time to buck the trend

Leverkusen have won each of the teams’ last six Bundesliga meetings, scoring 20 goals in the process. That does not change Eintracht’s ambitions, however, as all records are there to be broken.  

“We’re going to recover, analyse the [Tottenham] game and look at what we did well – primarily our structure and commitment against the ball,” said caretaker coach Dennis Schmitt. “We’ll also address a couple of issues and we need to talk about set pieces again as well.”

Fundamentally, the 32-year-old is keen to “take the next small step forward” in order to “stay on this path of small steps”. 

Kalimuendo set to start

Arnaud Kalimuendo, who suffered muscular complaints after last weekend’s game against Hoffenheim, is ready for action once again. “Arnaud is healthy, he’s trained well and will be in good shape out on the pitch against Leverkusen,” said Schmitt.

With two goals and an assist so far, the No.25 has hit the ground running in Frankfurt. Here’s to more of the same on Saturday!