Real Madrid are in the hunt for more silverware in 2022 as the Champions League winners face a solid Eintracht Frankfurt team who won the Europa League without losing a single game in the UEFA Super Cup.
The La Liga campaign is about to get underway for Los Blancos this weekend while Frankfurt has already played two competitive games, the last one ending in a crushing 6-1 loss to Bayern Munich. This clash is the repeat of the 1960 European Cup where Real triumphed 7-3 in a goal fest game.
RM vs FRK Match Details
Date: Wednesday, 10th August 2022/ Thursday, 11th August 2022
Time: 21:00 (EET)/ 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki
RM vs FRK Match Preview
Reassuring his position as one of the best in the buisness, Carlo Ancelloti restored Real Madrid’s royalty in European competition by delivering the 14th Champions League crown and becoming the first manager to have won it four times. The Italian also took the Los Blancos to the summit of the domestic league table too, silencing the critics that didn’t favored them to win any of these trophies in the first place. Real met their old foes Liverpool in the final, infamous for its off-field controversies, edging out a 1-0 victory courtesy of tenacious defending with Thibaut Courtois grabbing the player of the match award for making a record nine saves. In the whole competition itself, Madrid showed nerves of steel and champion mentality to rescue games in unimaginable ways when everything pointed at their elimination. They were rightfully branded as the ‘comeback kings’. Of course, most of the goals were scored by the competition’s top scorer Karim Benzema with 15. Real Madrid are now chasing their fifth Super Cup title to begin the new season on a high note in view of defending the titles they claimed the last term. Victory here will put them level with arch-rivals Barcelona and the Italian giants AC Milan for the number of Super Cups won. Europa League winners Frankfurt are the oppositions this time possessing an unwanted threat even after losing their key player Filip Kostic in the transfer market. Their concerning defeat to Bayern prior to this clash is not what defines this team and Ancelloti knows it very well. The Super Cup is often fiercely contested and is regarded as the best way to start a new campaign so Real will be up for the fight to sign off their preseason. The results were mixed in the three preseason games played with a narrow El Classico loss to Barcelona in Las Vegas to start off things followed by a 2-2 draw to Club America and a 2-0 win against Juventus. The Super Cup win won’t be a better way for the side to gain the necessary momentum before the trip to Almeria to begin their league title defence at the weekend.
Frankfurt winning the Europa League was no less remarkable than that of Real Madrid’s season as they were major underdogs to lift the silverware at the start of it. The team also massively struggled domestically but became a different animal while contesting in Europe. Manager Oliver Glasner’s tactics to build a deep block to restrict the opposition from breaching them and them hitting on the counter made them an epitome of success. The spirited side got past big names like Betis, West Ham and even Barcelona to glitter their glory in the final against Rangers. The most impressive fact is they did it all without losing a single game in the competition since the last-16 defeat to FC Basel in the reverse fixture back in the 2019/20 season. Frankfurt also won six of their seven games including the 2-1 final win after extra time and only drawing the last group stage game. Obviously, the reward came in the form of the Champions League for Die Adler gracing it for only the second time in their history after 62 long years. Though, Glasner will be concerned about the manner they went about starting the Bundesliga season. 5-0 down at half-time facing a merciless attack from the league champions Bayern, Frankfurt got a goal back in the second half because of Bayern’s own making, a horror mistake by Manuel Neuer, only to concede again in a 6-1 loss. The defending in the game was a major sign of worry and may restrict them to script another fairytale in winning the Super Cup upsetting the goliath named Real Madrid. Frankfurt’s record facing Spanish teams is positive with six wins in the ten meetings so far and only one loss to show. That sole defeat came in the 1960 European Cup final against the same opponents in a cracker of a final that ended 7-3 giving Real Madrid their fifth straight crown since the inauguration of the competition in 1955. The clash at Helsinki Stadium will be a historical one with two unlikeliest winners of their trophy last season fighting for the highly wanted Super Cup.
Recent Form
(Pre-season)
RMA: WDL
SGE: WWWDW
(league)
SGE: L
RM vs FRK Team News
There are no injury or suspension crisis for Carlo Ancelloti to think about before the showdown in Finland. Real Madrid will, however, leave out Reinier Jesus from the traveling squad as he waits to secure a loan move this summer. Signed from Chelsea on a free, Antonio Rudiger could be handed his official debut in the game while big money signing Aurelien Tchouameni have to make it from the bench not the time to replace the ever-reliant Casemiro in the starting lineup just now. Up top, Marco Asensio is pushing to be a starter in the game on the right wing ahead of Rodrigo and Federico Valverde but the Uruguayan is expected to get the nod in the front three with Vinicius Jr and top-scorer in the Champions League last season, Karim Benzema.
The major news for Frankfurt heading into the Super Cup is their talisman Filip Kostic has finally secured a transfer to Juventus according to multiple sources after long days of speculation. The club stated that the Serbian won’t be travelling to Helsinki with the team being in talks with a new club known to be the Serie A giants. Manager Oliver Glasner is set to field Christopher Lenz on the left wing-back position in place of Kostic while Daichi Kamada’s introduction back into the starting lineup to replace Jesper Lindstorm is the only other change expected to the team that began in the humiliating defeat to Bayern on the opening day of the Bundesliga season. There are no other fresh injury concerns for Die Adler other than Aurelio Buta with a knee injury and Jerome Onguene with his hip issue missing out until the next month.
RM vs FRK Predicted lineups
RMA: Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba; Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric; Fede Valverde, Karim Benzema, Vinicius
SGE: Kevin Trapp; Almamy Toure, Tuta, N’Dicka, Angsar Knauff, Djibril Sow, Sebastian Rode, Christopher Lenz, Daichi Kamada, Mario Götze, Santos Borre
RM vs FRK Head to head
This will be the first ever meet between the teams since that 1960 European Cup final held in Glasgow and witnessed a mouthwatering attacking game of football which ended 7-3 in Real’s favor. The Real Madrid side boasting two world-class forwards and the feared attacking pair of the generation in Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano combined for all the seven goals with Stefano scoring a hat trick and the Hungarian adding four goals to his name, becoming the only ever player to do so.
RM vs FRK Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Courtois (9)
DEF: Carvajal (8.5), N’Dicka (8.5), Rüdiger (8.5), Alaba (8.5)
MID: Kamada (9), Modric (9), Götze (8.5), Kroos (8.5)
FW: Santos Borre (9.5), Benzema (10.5)
Captain: Karim Benzema (61.02%)
Vice-captain: Luka Modric (16.08%)
Courtois made nine saves against Liverpool becoming the only goalkeeper to pull out a record number of saves in a Champions League final.
New signing Mario Gotze contributed to 12 goals in Europe last season for PSV Eindhoven. He has three assists in eight meetings with Real Madrid.
Rafael Santos Borre scored four and assisted two goals in 13 appearances in the Europa League including scoring in the final.
Karim Benzema scored 15 goals in the Champions League last season taking his tally to 42 goals in all competitions at the club level.
