The last time we faced Eintracht Frankfurt, it continued our sequence of facing a German team in every one of our six campaigns in the UEFA Champions League - two-and-a-half-years later, we meet them again in the quarter-final of the UEFA Europa League...
First up in 2010/11, we were drawn with Werder Bremen in Group A and, on our return to the competition in 2016/17, Bayer Leverkusen were among our Group E opponents.
The following two seasons saw us face Borussia Dortmund - in Group H in 2017/18 and then the Round of 16 in 2018/19 - before we came up against two German sides in 2019/20. First up was Bayern Munich in Group B and then RB Leipzig in the Round of 16.
Our trip to Frankfurt in October 2022 on Matchday Three of the 2022/23 Champions League was our first clash with Eintracht for 40 years, since we met in Cup Winners’ Cup action...
Last time out...
Antonio Conte’s side had beaten Marseille 2-0 here in N17 and lost to Sporting in Lisbon by the same scoreline before heading to Germany, where we picked up a point in an entertaining goalless draw in front of 50,000 fans at the Deutsche Bank Park.
Both sides had spells of pressure throughout the game and created plenty chances within them, but just four of the 23 shots at goal in the game were on target despite plenty of goalmouth action.
We went close on a few occasions in the first half, Harry Kane sliding an effort a yard wide, Heung-Min Son going even closer with a right-foot curler before Ivan Perisic’s shot flicked off Kristijan Jakic and spun inches wide just prior to the break. At the other end, Sebastian Rode’s shot deflected off the head of Perisic and flew over the bar on 18 minutes while it was Rode with the only shot on target in that opening half.
Hugo Lloris was at full-stretch to keep out Ansgar Knauff’s volley on the turn after the break, Son hit one that skimmed the top of the Frankfurt net and Jesper Lindstrom blazed over from 18 yards as the frenetic nature of the game continued, even if the goals eluded both sides.
Frankfurt: Trapp, Tuta, Hasebe, N'Dicka, Jakic, Rode (c) (Pellegrini 71), Sow, Knauff, Kamada, Lindstrom (Ebimbe 87), Kolo Muani (Borre 57).
Spurs: Lloris (c), Romero, Dier, Lenglet (Davies 78), Royal, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic (Sessegnon 71), Richarlison (Bryan 79), Kane, Son.
The return fixture took place just eight days later here at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, when our 3-2 victory took us to the top of Group D.
The visitors struck first on 14 minutes when Daichi Kamada slotted home although we were level six minutes later, Harry Kane sliding the perfect pass to release Son on goal and he produced a composed finish to beat Kevin Trapp. And we turned it around from the penalty spot on 28 minutes after VAR had stepped in to award a spotkick which Kane duly converted.
Lloris made a smart save to keep out Lindstrom’s angled drive and four minutes later, we extended our lead in style, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg clipping over a cross from the right and Son smashing a fierce volley home from 15 yards.
Frankfurt were reduced to 10 men when Tuta was dismissed just before the hour mark after picking up two bookings in two minutes, however they still carried a threat and reduced the deficit when substitute Faride Alidou headed in a corner with three minutes left.
That set up a nervy end, which could have changed had Kane not blazed his second penalty over the bar in stoppage time, but we held out to win and went on to top the group after a dramatic 2-1 win in Marseille, before losing to Milan in the Last 16.
Spurs: Lloris (c), Romero, Dier (Sanchez 78), Lenglet, Royal, Bentancur (Bissouma 67), Hojbjerg (Bryan 85), Sessegnon, Richarlison (Skipp 67), Kane, Son (Lucas 85).
Frankfurt: Trapp, Tuta, Hasebe (Dina Ebimbe 69), N'Dicka, Jakic, Rode (c) (Smolcic 70), Sow, Lenz (Alidou 70), Lindstrom, Kamada (Gotze 78), Kolo Muani (Borre 69).
Breaking new ground
Our first-ever game in the city of Frankfurt came way back in 1911, when we played a team that were the forerunners to the current Eintracht Frankfurt side.
In fact, the friendly came just 12 days after two teams based in the city - FFC Victoria and FVF Kickers - had merged to become Frankfurt Football Club Kickers-Victoria and so we became Kickers-Victoria’s first overseas opponents when we met on 25 May, 1911.
The game was the sixth and final fixture of our 1911 tour to Germany, the first time we had ever visited the country. We had won the previous five matches, beating a North German Combined XI 4-1 in Hamburg before moving on to Berlin, where we defeated Preussen (7-0) and Hertha FC (4-1). Next stop was Leipzig for an 8-1 win over Wacker FC and then Brunswick, where we beat local side Eintracht 4-1.
Our final stop saw us visit Frankfurt to take on the newly-formed Kickers-Victoria in what was only the fourth match in the club’s fledgling history. As was the case for all our matches on this tour, this game was one of the biggest of the 1910/11 season for our hosts.
While we know our team line-up from the contest, unfortunately we’re not aware of the goalscorers in our 6-0 win, apart from the fact that a Dr Friedrich Claus scored two own goals for the home side! We were 4-0 up at half-time.
With this game bringing to a close our tour of Germany, it seems our travelling party enjoyed themselves before the journey back to England. In a report of the game from the Frankfurt Football Club newspaper dated 1 June 1911, it concluded:
“In the evening, a small, impromptu social gathering took place in the Stadtgarten, and the English proved themselves equal to the occasion, handling the full tankards. German and English speeches alternated in lively succession; even the chairman of Spurs volunteered to sing an English chant. It wasn't until early morning that the English football performers parted ways, some of whom, under the safe guidance of a few experts, wanted to take a closer look at Frankfurt by night!”
Kickers-Victoria FC: Charbout-Mollard, Claus, Baumgartner, Schweickert, Jockel, van t'Oever, ter Horst, Dornbusch, Becker, Pickel, Kirchgarth.
Spurs: Joyce, Collins, Wilkes, Steel D, Kennedy, Darnell, Curtis, Minter, Humphreys, Steel R, Middlemiss.
Friendly in Frankfurt
Our second visit to Frankfurt in July 1976 saw us take on tonight’s opponents in their current guise for the very first time, having taken the name of ‘TuS Eintracht Frankfurt 1861’ in 1920.
We’d spent the post-season on a mammoth 27-day tour of Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia in which we played nine matches, winning all of them, and we didn’t return back in England until 25 May.
There wasn’t much of a break for the players though, as no sooner were we back in pre-season training ahead of the 1976/77 campaign, than we were off on tour again, this time to Germany!
First up was a 3-1 win against VfL Osnabruck on 24 July before we faced Eintracht Frankfurt four days later, who themselves were in pre-season and had drawn 0-0 against St Etienne in their previous friendly.
The home side went ahead in the 18th minute when Don McAllister fouled Wolfgang Kraus in the area and Jurgen Grabowski sent Pat Jennings the wrong way from the penalty spot.
We more than matched our hosts for an hour before three goals in an 11-minute spell saw the game slip away. Bernd Nickel took advantage of a defensive error to fire home from 12 yards on 63 minutes, while Grabowski scored his second four minutes later after Willie Young’s clearance fell to him on the edge of the area. Willi Neuberger drilled home to make it 4-0 before we finally got on the scoresheet with eight minutes remaining, Young heading past Peter Kunter.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Koitka (Kunter 57), Reichel (Trinklein 57), Neuberger, Korbel, Beverungen, Muller, Kraus (Weidle 73), Nickel, Wenzel (Borchers 73), Grabowski, Bihn (Stradt 46).
Spurs: Jennings, Naylor, McAllister, Pratt, Young, Osgood, Coates, Perryman, Armstrong (Conn 63), Jones, Neighbour.