A rare highlight in a dismal season—or the final nail in the coffin?
The Europa League quarter-finals continue this week’s fascinating slate of football, and for Tottenham, this is it. This is *everything*. Their domestic season has been a disaster from start to finish, and the Europa League is now their only remaining hope. Their *only* hope. Drawn against a Frankfurt side that isn’t exactly flying either, this is a golden opportunity—but then again, we’ve said that before. We’ve said that too many times this season.
Tottenham, like several other Premier League sides, faced a double gameweek. They narrowly lost to Chelsea midweek—another disappointment in a season full of them—but bounced back with a deserved 3–1 win over a dreadful Southampton side. It was a win, yes, but hardly a turning point.
Team news - Tottenham:
Dejan Kulusevski, Kevin Danso, and Radu Dragusin through injury, with a few more names potentially missing as well. This is a massive tie for the Spurs. A massive tie for their season. A massive tie for their credibility.
Can coach Postecoglou handle the stress?
Frankfurt, meanwhile, sit third in the Bundesliga. Still, they’re light-years behind Bayern and Leverkusen. At the weekend, they were beaten—and beaten fairly—by mid-table Werder Bremen. The squad is in flux heading into this one.
Team news - Frankfurt:
Timothy Chandler and Elye Wahi are out, and there are several more fitness concerns. All eyes are on goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, whose return would be a huge boost. Ansgar Knauff is sidelined due to injury, which coach Dino Toppmöller described as a "bitter loss."
Frankfurt aren’t at their best. That’s true. But they’re still third. Still the third-best attack in Germany. Still dangerous. And with all that pace up front, it’s Spurs’ high line that should be causing the real worry. Postecoglou and his staff have had a season full of sleepless nights, and this matchup isn’t going to help them rest easy.
Tottenham’s entire season now hangs in the balance. It’s all on this competition. All on this tie. All on getting a result tonight to carry into the second leg in Germany. But pressure hasn’t brought out their best this season—it’s exposed them. The odds for this game seem off, and frankly, they’re difficult to make sense of.
Yes, Bayern and Dortmund have already slipped up this week, but in fairness, they were up against elite opposition in the Champions League. Frankfurt don’t face that level of competition here—but they have pedigree in this tournament. Serious pedigree. They’re looking to win the Europa League for the second straight time they've entered it. Just two losses in their last 23 matches in this competition. Two. And they’ve scored two or more goals in eight of their last ten away games in Europe. Eight out of ten.
Sure, they’re without Omar Marmoush—sold to Manchester City in January for a big fee and still their top scorer—but they didn’t seem to miss him much when they hit Ajax for six in the last round. Spurs, meanwhile, could only manage three goals over two legs against an AZ side 24 points behind Ajax in the Eredivisie.
This one is closer than the markets suggest and Frankfurt can hurt the hosts with their counters. It is much closer! And if Tottenham aren't careful, tonight could go from a rare highlight to that final, final nail.
该文章通过有道机器翻译，仅供参考:
这是一个令人沮丧的赛季中罕见的亮点——还是棺材上的最后一颗钉子？
欧联杯四分之一决赛继续着本周精彩的足球比赛，对热刺来说，这就是它了。这是“一切”。他们的国内赛季从头到尾都是一场灾难，现在欧联杯是他们唯一的希望。他们唯一的希望。与法兰克福队的比赛也不太顺利，这是一个千载难逢的机会——但话说回来，我们之前已经说过了。这个赛季我们已经说过太多次了。
和其他几支英超球队一样，热刺也面临着一周两场比赛。他们在周中以微弱劣势输给了切尔西——这是他们这个赛季的又一次失望——但最终以3-1战胜了糟糕的南安普顿。这是一场胜利，没错，但绝不是转折点。
球队新闻-热刺：
库卢塞夫斯基、丹索和德拉古辛都因伤缺阵，还有一些球员可能会缺席。这对马刺来说是一场重要的平局。这是他们本赛季的一大平局。这是对他们信誉的巨大挑战。
教练Postecoglou能处理压力吗？
与此同时，法兰克福在德甲排名第三。尽管如此，他们还是比拜仁和勒沃库森落后了好几光年。在周末，他们被中游的云达不莱梅击败了，而且是公平地击败了。小队在进入这一场的过程中很不稳定。
车队新闻-法兰克福：
蒂莫西·钱德勒和埃尔伊·瓦伊缺阵，还有几位伤情堪忧。所有的目光都集中在门将凯文·特拉普身上，他的回归将是一个巨大的推动力。安斯加尔·克瑙夫因伤缺阵，教练迪诺Toppmöller称这是一场“痛苦的损失”。
法兰克福并非处于最佳状态。这是真的。但他们仍然是第三名。仍然是德国第三强的进攻。仍然很危险。前场的速度如此之快，马刺的高线应该引起真正的担忧。波斯特科格洛和他的团队度过了一个充满不眠之夜的赛季，这场比赛并不能让他们轻松休息。
热刺的整个赛季现在都悬而未决。一切都取决于这场比赛。全靠这条领带。所有的希望都寄托在今晚的比赛结果上，这样我们就可以进入德国的第二回合了。但是这个赛季的压力并没有让他们发挥出最好的水平——而是暴露了他们。这个游戏的*似乎很低，坦率地说，它们很难理解。
是的，拜仁和多特蒙德这周已经有所下滑，但公平地说，他们在欧冠面对的是精英对手。法兰克福在这里并没有面临那种水平的竞争，但他们在这项赛事中有血统。严重的血统。他们希望连续第二次赢得欧联杯冠军。在过去的23场比赛中，他们只输了两场。两个。在最近的10场欧洲客场比赛中，他们有8场进了2个或更多的球。十有八九。
当然，他们没有奥马尔·马穆什——他在1月份以高价被卖给了曼城，现在仍然是他们的头号射手——但是当他们在上一轮对阿贾克斯打进6球时，他们似乎并没有太想念他。与此同时，热刺在对阵落后阿贾克斯24分的阿贾克斯的比赛中，只在两回合中打进3球。
这场比赛比市场暗示的要近，法兰克福可能会用反击打击东道主。离这儿近多了！如果热刺不小心，今晚可能会从一个罕见的亮点变成最后的最后一击。
