Tottenham handed boost for crunch Europa League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt | OneFootball

German side will be without an influential player for this week’s quarter-final first-leg meeting with Spurs in north London

Crunch clash: Tottenham’s Europa League fate this season could be crucial to Ange Postecoglou’s future at the club

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Eintracht Frankfurt will be without an important player against Tottenham in the Europa League this week.

But they will do so without influential first-choice goalkeeper and club captain Kevin Trapp, who will play no part in the contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Frankfurt have confirmed that their long-term No1 is still out injured and will be replaced in Dino Toppmoller’s Europa League squad by veteran third-choice ‘keeper Jens Grahl following a request to UEFA to temporarily update their ‘A list’.

That will mean that 21-year-old Brazilian Kaua Santos - a 2023 arrival from Flamengo - should retain the starting job in goal for Frankfurt against Tottenham, having impressed while deputising for Trapp in 11 appearances across all competitions so far this season including the last four games in a row.

Trapp has played 31 times in total this term but not since the 2-1 home Bundesliga defeat by Union Berlin on March 9 having been struggling with a shin injury and was not deemed fit enough to return for Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away at Werder Bremen having only been able to partake in partial training last week.

German publication Bild reported on Monday that the 34-year-old could yet be added to the Frankfurt squad ahead of next week’s home second leg against Tottenham if he can prove his fitness in time.

Trapp, who has nine senior international caps for Germany, has made 378 appearances for Frankfurt across two spells at Deutsche Bank Park, having initially joined from Kaiserslautern in 2012 and then returned - initially on loan - in 2018 following three years with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

Along with their usual starting goalkeeper, Frankfurt are also without injured forward Elye Wahi against Tottenham, as well as winger Ansgar Knauff and former USA defender Timothy Chandler. However, defender Nnamdi Collins and striker Igor Matanovic are both back and could be joined by teenage midfielder Can Uzun.

Tottenham will still be missing injured duo Kevin Danso and Dejan Kulusevski for the first leg plus long-term absentee Radu Dragusin, though Rodrigo Bentancur is available in midfield after missing the last-16 second-leg comeback against AZ Alkmaar last month through suspension.