Eintracht Frankfurt’s head coach has confirmed one member of his starting XI to face Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Both teams are expected to have mostly full squads at their disposal. The home side have just two injury absences, while the Reds’ only confirmed absentees are Giovanni Leoni and Alisson Becker, although Ryan Gravenberch is a doubt after he missed today’s training session in Kirkby.
Giorgi Mamardashvili will continue to deputise between the sticks for Arne Slot’s side, with the Dutch tactician now knowing who the Georgian’s opposite number will be tomorrow.
Eintracht boss confirms change of goalkeeper to face Liverpool
Eintracht boss Dino Toppmoller spoke to the media today in the lead-up to Liverpool’s visit, and he confirmed that Michael Zetterer will come in to start in goals, with Kaua Santos losing his place in the XI.
The 44-year-old said (via Bulinews): “We made this decision after several discussions because we felt it might be important for Kaua to take a step back right now. There’s been a lot coming at him recently.
“We have three top goalkeepers. ‘Zetti’ already played our first few matches and exuded great calmness – he also did very well with the ball. That’s why we made this decision, [and it’s] also in Santos’ best interests.”
Eintracht goalkeeping change is no surprise
While it’s not all that common for goalkeepers to be changed voluntarily for big matches, Toppmoller’s decision to drop Santos isn’t wholly surprising when considering his form of late.
The 22-year-old has started Eintracht’s last five matches since returning from a cruciate ligament injury but has conceded a whopping 18 goals in that time, including five against Atletico Madrid and four against both Union Berlin and Borussia Monchengladbach (Transfermarkt).
The more experienced Zetterer fared substantially better in his four games before he dropped to the bench last month, with just six goals going past him and Bayer Leverkusen accounting for 50% of those (Transfermarkt).
Their respective save percentages could hardly be more polarised – the 30-year-old has stopped 76.5% of shots he’s faced this season, compared to just 38.1% for Santos (FBref). The numbers lay bare just why Toppmoller has wielded the axe on the 6 foot 6 Brazilian.
With Eintracht set to have a more reliable presence between the sticks tomorrow night, it means that Liverpool will need to be far more clinical in front of goal than they were on Sunday, when they missed four ‘big chances’ and struck the post or crossbar three times (Sofascore).
Whoever is selected to start in the Reds’ attack at Deutsche Bank Park, hopefully they can capitalise on Zetterer potentially lacking match sharpness after sitting out the last four games.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Manchester United press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: