{"id":27151,"date":"2025-04-17T09:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T09:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/27151\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T09:24:08","slug":"defender-who-left-leeds-united-for-0-captains-new-club-into-champions-league-as-model-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/27151\/","title":{"rendered":"Defender who left Leeds United for \u00a30 captains new club into Champions League as ‘model professional’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Premier League football looms into view for Daniel Farke\u2019s men, one former Leeds United player could be about to go one step further.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leeds United<\/a> moved five points clear of Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United either side of the automatic promotion barrier with last weekend\u2019s 2-1 victory over Preston North End.<\/p>\n

If Chris Wilder cannot arrest The Blades\u2019 alarming slide against Cardiff City on Friday, Leeds can all-but guarantee their top-flight status with a victory against an Oxford side who \u2013 having stunned Sheffield United 3-1 earlier this month \u2013 welcome the league-leaders to the Kassam Stadium with a great deal of self-confidence.<\/p>\n

But with a return to the Premier League now within Leeds\u2019 grasp, a player who arrived under Marcelo Bielsa<\/a> following the Championship-winning campaign of 2019\/20 is potentially five games away from a campaign in the Champions League.<\/p>\n

After an impressive loan spell back is native Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt signed Robin Koch<\/a> on a permanent basis in January 2024.<\/p>\n

Leeds agreed to let their \u00a310 million acquisition leave on a free transfer. Fifteen months later, Robin Koch is captaining The Eagles to a spot<\/a> at the continent\u2019s top table as well as a place in the last-four of the UEFA Europa League.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Harry Langer\/DeFodi Images via Getty ImagesFormer Leeds United defender Robin Koch leads Frankfurt\u2019s Champions League charge<\/p>\n

Koch lead by example as Frankfurt secured a 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur in the first-leg of their quarter-final clash last week. Ange Postecoglou\u2019s ramshackle outfit will head to the Commerzbank Arena for the return leg on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

And it is testament to the excellent job Dino Toppmoller has done this season that Frankfurt have two routes into the Champions League available to them. <\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

Should they fall short in pursuit of Europa League glory, Frankfurt can console themselves with a top-four finish in the Bundesliga.<\/p>\n

The 2022 Europa League champions extended their advantage over an imploding fifth-place Mainz to five points with Robin Koch converting the second goal of Sunday\u2019s 3-0 victory over Heidenheim.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou only realise Robin\u2019s importance when he\u2019s not there,\u201d Toppmoller said when discussing the impact of his in-form skipper. \u201cHe\u2019s already missed a few games in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s when you can see what we\u2019re lacking in terms of personality, footballing quality, tackling ability, leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koch a \u2018model professional\u2019 as Frankfurt captain prepares for Tottenham test<\/p>\n

Four attributes with sum up Koch\u2019s importance to the Frankfurt cause pretty neatly. It\u2019s telling that The Eagles won only one of the four games in which the Germany international missed through injury, including a 4-0 crushing by Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is, of course, a model professional with a brutal physique,\u201d Toppmoller adds. \u201cHe is well-trained and takes care of his body accordingly, both in terms of diet and sleep. You can simply see that in his appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know what kind of person he is. Someone who leads the way, doesn\u2019t shy away from a single challenge, and throws himself into every ball. That\u2019s why he is extremely important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasmus Kristensen<\/a> plays alongside Koch in the red and black of Frankfurt these days.<\/p>\n

The Bundesliga outfit are expected to sign Leeds loanee Kristensen<\/a> permanently this summer, albeit for less than the \u00a312.5 million fee initially agreed upon last summer.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Premier League football looms into view for Daniel Farke\u2019s men, one former Leeds United player could be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,16459,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-27151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-robin-koch","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114352584332005070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}