Eintracht Frankfurt shrug off two goals conceded off corners in Champions League loss: “Liverpool simply has taller players.” | OneFootball

Despite the fact that they lost by a wide margin, Bundesliga Champions League representatives Eintracht Frankfurt weren’t in much of a mood to hang their heads on Wednesday night. Opponents Liverpool are, after all, a €1.15 billion valued team. The campaign remains young.

Moreover, the potential of Dino Toppmöller’s SGE remains clear.

Though they have now lost two UCL matches (Liverpool and Atletico Madrid) by 1-5 score-lines, Toppmöller’s €384 million valued team also defeated Galatasaray Istanbul 5-1 in the opening round of Champions League play. Liverpool failed against the Turkish Süper Lig outfit on the next UCL matchday. 

Eintracht started well against Liverpool, opening the scoring with an excellently executed counter attack in the 26th-minute. After Liverpool themselves equalized off a counter in the 35th, two goals off corners sunk the chances of the German hosts getting back into the match. 

Virgil van Dijk polished off an Andrew Robertson service for the 1-2 in the 39th-minute. In a near carbon copy variant of the scene (this time from the right) two former RB Leipzig professionals (who actually never played together at RB) made it 1-3 in the 44th-minute. 

The fact that Eintracht arrived seemingly unprepared to mark the likes of van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté (who headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s service) wasn’t something anyone associated with the SGE seemed overtly concerned about. 

Ansgar Knauff, who couldn’t mark Konaté on the 1-3, simply attributed it to the height discrepancy. Konaté maintains a six-inch height advantage over Knauff. Robin Koch and Aurelé Amenda had a chance against Van Dijk height-wise, but couldn’t match the Dutch master’s timing. 

“We tried to block some of the bigger players, but we were at a physical disadvantage,” Knauff remarked whilst being interviewed by DAZN the mixed zone. “They were simply a class above us today.“

“Obviously, it doesn’t work if one concedes goals,” Mario Götze told DAZN when asked about the team’s strategy for defending on set-pieces. “It’s a comparatively tall team and when they get those many chances off corners. To continue to defend against them on corners doesn’t work.”

“Liverpool simply has taller players,” Toppmöller told DAZN. “At some point, one simply can’t defend it anymore.“

“The two set piece goals killed us,” Toppmöller was nevertheless sure to add. “We grew more complacent and lost our self-confidence. We have to do better.”

GGFN | Peter Weis