With the Austrian sun beating down and the temperature gauge still high, Leeds United faced their first real high calibre opponents in German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt finished 9th in the Bundesliga last season and their new coach Armin Veh promised that Leeds United would be in for a long night as they would be starved of the ball. True to his word, this proved to be the case for long periods of the game with The Whites chasing shadows as the German team stuck to their manager’s philosophy.
In punishing heat, Frankfurt passed the ball between themselves like it was a hot potato, with the Leeds United players reduced to following its wafty smell. With the Germans starting brightly, the travelling Leeds fans soon cranked up the volume and a chorus of “Oh Leeds away,” rang around the Eugendorf Sportzentrum. Leeds had Marco Silvestri to thank for keeping it scoreless early on with a sprawling save to his left to hold onto the increasingly dangerous Tokashi Inui’s shot. Silvestri was to be Leeds saviour later on in the half with further saves from Frankfurt’s Stefan Aigner and Inui once again.
Somewhat against the run of play though, with the Germans enjoying the lion’s share of possession, Leeds United actually took the lead. On 26 minutes, a swift break upfield by Sam Byram led to a low cross into the box and Steve ‘Shift’ Morison muscled in the opening goal. Frankfurt did up the pace as they looked for an equaliser but the Leeds United defence looked organised. Leeds finished the half the stronger side with Sam Byram continuing to have success down the Frankfurt left side.
In the heat, something had to give and it was Leeds United’s defensive resolve. After going close through last season’s top scorer Haris Seferovic, Frankfurt took advantage of some lax closing down by Leeds as Johannes Flum stroked in Stefan Aigner’s cross-goal header to bring the Germans level on 59 minutes. The Germans continued to press and probe with their neat passing dragging the Leeds United players across the field and, at times, out of position. With Leeds beginning to look ragged and a little wilted, Frankfurt scored what proved to be the winning goal. A goalmouth scramble after the ball was played in from the Leeds right, saw Liam cooper make a goal line clearance that fell to the prone Stefan Reinartz who scrambled the ball in via the unfortunately rising Scott Wootton to give the German side a 74th minute lead. The remainder of game petered out somewhat as both sides toiled in the heat of the Austrian early evening sun.
