Barcelona 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt: Kounde double boosts Flick's knockout-stage push
Hansi Flick had Jules Kounde to thank as his second-half heroics helped Barcelona past Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Jules Kounde was the unlikely hero as his double powered Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to boost their Champions League hopes.
Ansgar Knauff fired the visitors ahead on Tuesday, only for Kounde to inspire a second-half turnaround to move Barcelona up to 14th and just two points shy of the top eight.
Robert Lewandowski saw an early strike ruled out for offside in the build-up against Raphinha, before Gerard Martin stung the palms of Michael Zetterer from range in a one-sided opening.
But it was Eintracht who struck first against the run of play when Knauff beat Alejandro Balde to Nathaniel Brown's throughball and steered into the bottom-right corner in the 21st minute.
The visitors almost doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time, though Ellyes Skhiri's first-time effort flew just over the top-right corner.
A half-time change made the difference, however, as substitute Marcus Rashford curled in for Kounde to head home in the 50th minute.
Defender Kounde then struck again just three minutes later, rising the highest to nod past Setterer after a teasing Lamine Yamal delivery from the left-hand side.
Ferran Torres whistled a fierce effort wide as Barcelona sought to put the game to bed, though Eintracht could not mount a late comeback regardless.
Data Debrief: Yamal makes more history
Yamal has now been directly involved in 14 goals in the Champions League for Barcelona (seven goals, seven assists).
His well-weighted delivery for Kounde's second saw Yamal overtake Kylian Mbappe (13) for the most goal involvements by a player aged 18 or younger in the competition's history (since 1992-93).
Kounde also became the first Barcelona player to score two headed goals in a single Champions League match, though Hansi Flick will have felt a victory was the least his side deserved.
They accumulated 1.43 expected goals (xG) to Eintracht's 0.77, eventually managing to get over the line for a vital victory in their quest for automatic qualification to the knockout stages.
