Frankfurt vs Barcelona match facts

Barcelona's bid to win the one major European trophy missing from their collection continues in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals with a visit to an Eintracht Frankfurt side who dramatically ended the hopes of another Spanish club in the round of 16.

• Frankfurt came unbeaten through UEFA Europa League D during the autumn, topping the section with 12 points ahead of Olympiacos, Fenerbahçe and Antwerp to qualify directly for the round of 16, where they eliminated Real Betis thanks to an own goal in the last minute of extra time (2-1 a, 1-1 h).

• After 17 successive years competing in the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona failed to progress from their group this season, picking up just seven points to finish third behind Bayern München and Benfica and cross over to the UEFA Europa League, where they have made it to the last eight after beating both Napoli and Galatasaray away following first-leg draws at the Camp Nou.

Previous meetings
• This is the clubs' first meeting in UEFA competition.

• Frankfurt's first encounter with Spanish opposition was their historic 7-3 defeat by Real Madrid in the 1960 European Cup final in Glasgow. However, that late decisive own goal against Betis last time out means they remain unbeaten against Spanish opposition since then (W5 D2), with a home record of W2 D1. Eintracht's two-legged knockout record against Spanish clubs is now W3 L0.

• Barcelona have lost their last three matches against German opposition – all against Bayern – conceding 14 goals and scoring just two. Although their all-time away record in Germany remains W10 D10 L8, they have won only two of their last nine matches there against Bundesliga opposition (D4 L3). They did, however, also beat Juventus 3-1 in the 2015 UEFA Champions League final in Berlin.

• Barça have met German opposition in 21 previous knockout ties, including finals, winning 15 of them. In European quarter-finals against German teams their record is W3 L2, though they infamously lost the most recent 8-2 to Bayern in their single-leg UEFA Champions League tie in Lisbon two seasons ago – the Catalan club's heaviest European defeat.

Form guide
Eintracht
• Having been absent from Europe in 2020/21, Eintracht returned for a third UEFA Europa League group stage campaign in four seasons – and fourth in all – thanks to their fifth-placed finish in the Bundesliga. Last summer they replaced coach Adi Hütter with another Austrian, Oliver Glasner, who was in charge of fourth-placed Wolfsburg last term.

• Eintracht have now qualified for the UEFA Europa League knockout phase on all of their four group stage appearances, notably reaching the semi-finals in 2018/19, when they were denied a place in the final only by a penalty shoot-out defeat against eventual winners Chelsea. They won all six of their group games that season – the only German club ever to achieve the feat – but managed just three this term, two against Olympiacos (3-1 h, 2-1 a) and one against Antwerp (1-0 a), in addition to three draws – 2-2 at home to Antwerp and 1-1 in both games against Fenerbahçe.

• The 1979/80 UEFA Cup winners are participating in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals for the second time. They edged past Benfica at this stage in 2018/19, winning the tie on away goals when they followed up a 2-4 defeat in Lisbon with a 2-0 victory at home. That made Eintracht's all-time record in UEFA quarter-final ties W4 L5, ending a run of four straight aggregate defeats.

• The German club's home record in the UEFA Europa League, including qualifying, is now W15 D6 L3, though they have won just one of the last five matches (D3 L1). The three defeats all came in 2019/20, the last of them 0-3 in the first leg of the round of 16 against Basel, which ended Frankfurt's six-match unbeaten home run in the competition's knockout phase (W3 D3).

Barcelona
• Barcelona were third in the 2020/21 Spanish Liga, the first time they had finished outside the top two since 2007/08, when they also came third. They did, however, claim a record-extending 31st victory in the Copa del Rey, beating Athletic Club 4-0 in the final.

• Last season Barcelona also failed to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2006/07, losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 (1-4 h, 1-1 a). This term they scored just two goals – both in 1-0 wins against Dynamo Kyiv – in finishing third behind Bayern (0-3 h, 0-3 a) and Benfica (0-3 a, 0-0 h) in Group E. Head coach Ronald Koeman was dismissed in October and replaced the following month by former midfielder Xavi Hernández.

• While this is Barça's first season in the UEFA Europa League, their last appearance in the UEFA Cup was in 2003/04, when they reached the fourth round before being knocked out by Celtic (0-1 a, 0-0 h). Barcelona never won the UEFA Cup, nor reached a final, suffering semi-final elimination on four occasions – in 1975/76, 1977/78, 1995/96 and 2000/01. Their quarter-final record in the competition was W4 L3. In 38 UEFA quarter-finals overall they have been successful 25 times, though they have won just one of their last five in the UEFA Champions League.

• Victorious in both Naples (4-2) and Istanbul (2-1) this spring, those are nevertheless two of just three wins for Barcelona in their last 13 post-Christmas European fixtures outside Catalonia (D4 L6). The other was against Manchester United in the first leg of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League quarter-final (1-0).

Links and trivia
• Frankfurt's Kevin Trapp and Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong have both made 49 appearances in UEFA club competition.

• Opposing goalkeepers Trapp and Marc-André ter Stegen have both been capped at international level by Germany. Ter Stegen joined Barcelona in 2014 after four seasons in the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

• Dutchmen Sam Lammers (Eintracht) and Luuk de Jong (Barcelona) are former PSV Eindhoven team-mates (2016–19). De Jong was a Mönchengladbach player in 2012/13, two of his six Bundesliga goals coming in wins against Eintracht – 2-0 at home and 1-0 away.

• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's winner for Barcelona at Galatasaray was his 24th goal in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, putting him joint third in the competition's all-time goalscorers list, level with Munas Dabbur and below only Radamel Falcao (30) and Aritz Aduriz (26).

• Aubameyang was a Borussia Dortmund player from July 2013 to January 2018, scoring 141 goals in 213 matches. He registered six goals and two assists against Frankfurt in nine Bundesliga games and also scored the winning penalty against them in the 2016/17 German Cup final (2-1).

• Aubameyang also scored against Frankfurt for Arsenal in both UEFA Europa League group games in 2019/20 (3-0 a, 1-2 h), Daichi Kamada finding the net twice for the German side in the second encounter.

• Barcelona's French forward Ousmane Dembélé played alongside Aubameyang – and Frankfurt's Sebastian Rode – at Dortmund in 2016/17, scoring six goals in 32 Bundesliga matches.

• Eintracht's Colombian forward Rafael Borré spent 2016/17 on loan at Villarreal from fellow Spanish Liga club Atlético de Madrid, for whom he never made a first-team appearance.

• Jesper Lindstrøm (Eintracht) and Martin Braithwaite (Barcelona) are both Danish internationals.

• Frankfurt are the only club taking part in this season's UEFA Europa League quarter-finals to have previously lifted the trophy, in their case in its former guise as the UEFA Cup (1980), whereas Barcelona are the only former European Cup/UEFA Champions League winners involved in the last eight.

• Competition debutants Barcelona became the 224th team to take part in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, and the 13th from Spain, when they entered in the knockout round play-offs.

• Barcelona are one of two reigning domestic cup holders in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals – along with Braga.

• Germany are the only country with more than one club in the quarter-finals – Eintracht and Leipzig. It is the first time since 2011/12 that two Bundesliga sides have made it through to this stage of the competition. No German side has ever won the UEFA Europa League.

• Eintracht were held 0-0 at home by the Bundesliga's bottom club Greuther Fürth at the weekend, whereas Barcelona registered a sixth successive Liga win by beating Sevilla 1-0 at the Camp Nou to move level with their opponents in the standings, 12 points behind leaders Real Madrid.

• The winners of this tie will face either West Ham or Lyon in the semi-final.