Barcelona finally got one over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League, edging out the Bundesliga side 2-1 in a tense night that swung heavily after the break. In the prematch report we expected a lot of fireworks in this encounter, and the game came to life from the start.
Softfootball understands that the win today was Barca’s first-ever win over Frankfurt in Europe, and it stretched the visitors’ winless run to four games in all competitions. Not pretty throughout, but effective when it mattered most, with Kounde starring bright under the Camp Nou lights.
The Frenchman won the player of the match award, as revealed by Barcelona in a video posted via their official X account.
Watch the video below;
From the opening whistle, Barcelona came flying out of the traps with real urgency. Frankfurt barely had time to settle as wave after wave of pressure came crashing in.
Robert Lewandowski thought he’d opened the scoring with a neat volley inside ten minutes, but VAR spotted an offside earlier in the move. Soon after, Gerard Martín tried one from range, forcing Michael Zetterer into a sharp save.
But football can be cruel. Against the run of play, just like in the 5-3 La Liga victory against Real Betis, Frankfurt landed a sucker punch in the 21st minute. A clever pass from Nathaniel Brown found Ansgar Knauff in stride, and the forward used his strength brilliantly to shrug off defenders before drilling a low shot past Joan García. Suddenly, Barça were chasing the game.
They kept pushing, though the final pass kept letting them down. Frankfurt doubled up on Lamine Yamal all night, clearly wary of the teenager’s pace and trickery.
Pedri and Raphinha worked hard to pull strings, but the German side stayed organised. In added time, Knauff again caused problems, setting up Ellyes Skhiri whose thunderous effort just flew over the bar.
Frankfurt even threatened again early in the second half, showing they weren’t simply there to defend. Raphinha wasted a big chance soon after, ballooning a cut-back from Marcus Rashford over the bar. That miss didn’t cost Barcelona for long.
Rashford, who was electric off the bench, whipped in a delicious cross for Jules Koundé to head in the equaliser. Two minutes later, almost unbelievably, Koundé did it again as Frankfurt’s defence completely switched off, heading home another delightful cross, this time from the mercurial Lamine Yamal.
From there, Barca controlled the closing stages. Raphinha tested Zetterer late on, while Frankfurt resorted to hopeful long balls in search of a lifeline which never came.
