Eintracht collapse late, drop points in Europa League opener

Dino Toppmöller's Eintracht Frankfurt appeared to have gotten their 2024/25 Europa League campaign off to a winning start with a 3-1 home win over Czech visitors Viktoria Plzen at Deutsche Bank Park. French flanker Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe - not long ago linked with a move away from the club - scored a critical goal off the bench. Ebimbe's French colleague Hugo Ekitiké delivered another masterful performance, scoring one goal and assisting on another. After Ekitiké was subbed off, however, the home side collapsed and conceded two late goals. 

Toppmöller made three changes to the XI that defeated Wolfsburg in the league five days ago. Niels Nkounkou replaced the injured Robin Koch while Hugo Larsson and Fares Chaibi were rested in favor of Igor Matanovic and Mahmoud Dahoud. Matanovic - recently returned from a successful loan stint in the 2. Bundesliga - made his SGE starting XI debut. Dahoud - who recently expressed his desire to return to the German national team - also got his first crack at a start for the RheinMainAdler. 

Matanovic and Ekitiké ended up pairing up front in a 4-4-2. The highly successful Marmoush slid back to the left wing opposite Ansgar Knauff. Nkounkou took over the left-back position whilst Arthur Theate slid central. After some early SGE breakthroughs, the hosting Germans had difficulty freeing themselves from a midfield stalemate. Matanovic registered the first shot on target of the match in the 17th. The 21-year-old Croatian international's effort, not particularly well placed, was easily diffused. 

Toppmöller's side didn't punch past the ranks of their Czech guests again until the 38th. As it turned out, however, a sharp interchange between Ekitiké and Rasmussen Kristensen enabled the German Eagles to take the lead. Eintracht's rising French striker finishes with a flourish after a nice one-two with the Danish fullback for the 1-0 lead. Matanovic nearly doubled the advantage against the shaky opposition defensive ranks two minutes later. The youngster nevertheless again couldn't find the right finish in the 40th. 

Frankfurt were made to pay for their profligacy in the 41st when, totally against the run-of-play, Viktoria's Pavel Sulc equalized with a well bent distance effort. Despite dominating the match, Eintracht were forced to contend with a 1-1 half-time scoreline. Several halfway decent SGE attack charges after the restart only resulted in half chances. Instead, Plzen looked likely to take the lead when defender Tuta nearly deflected the ball into his own net in the 53rd. By the hour-mark, Toppmöller had seen enough and ordered two changes. 

Chaibi and Ebimbe relieved Matanovic and Knauff. Ebimbe made an almost immediate impact, netting the 2-1 in the 62nd. Ekitiké serviced his fellow French youth international with a lovely through ball. The substitute then finished cooly with a calm lift over Plzen keeper Martin Jedlicka. Five minutes after that, Kristensen collected a ball from about 14 meters out and somehow buried the 3-1 through a fray of bodies from which he received a blocked effort. Before exiting proceedings to a round of applause, Ekitiké almost set Marmoush up for a fourth goal in the 69th. 

Toppmöller's crew unfortunately began to look a bit shaky after another double substitution in the 71st. After several attempts came close, Plzen striker Prince Adu pulled a goal back in the 86th. The SGE defensive ranks had trouble with their marking off a throw-in and keeper Kaua Santos couldn't stop Adu's skilled finish off the volley. As the match entered its final minute of injury time, the man who assisted Adu's 2-3 scored the equalizer at 90+2. Keeper Kaua Santos wasn't available to cover the net after getting knocked down in a goalmouth melee.