Eintracht Frankfurt are heading to Seville where they will meet Rangers in the Europa League final.
Eintracht Frankfurt are heading to Seville where they will meet Rangers in the Europa League final. - © DFL
Eintracht Frankfurt are heading to Seville where they will meet Rangers in the Europa League final. - © DFL
bundesliga

Eintracht Frankfurt through to UEFA Europa League final after victory against West Ham

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Eintracht Frankfurt will contest their first major European final since 1980 after the Eagles completed their UEFA Europa League semi-final mission against the ten men of West Ham United, Rafael Borre scoring the second-leg match winner to set up a Seville showdown with Glasgow Rangers.

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Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 West Ham United (agg: 3-1)
Goals: 1-0 Borre 26' (assist: Knauff)

Boasting a 2-1 lead from last week's first leg in London, Eintracht were greeted by a spectacular welcome from the home fans at Deutsche Bank Park. In an opening half that would provide those supporters with plenty to celebrate, there was first some early disappointment with Martin Hinteregger limping out of the contest with a hamstring injury after just eight minutes. Further drama would soon follow. Chasing a long ball over the top, Jens Petter Hauge felt himself being grappled to the floor by Aaron Cresswell. With the Eintracht man down, the hosts protested furiously. Hauge would have been through on goals with a scoring opportunity but for the foul. The referee raced across to check his monitor, and sprinted back just as quickly to raise a red card for the West Ham man. Suddenly finding themselves playing with a man advantage, Frankfurt then had a goal advantage on the night too, Borre sweeping home Ansgar Knauff's cutback to increase the Eagles' aggregate lead to 3-1.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, a second-half onslaught still might have been expected from the visiting team. Perhaps put off by a thunderous atmosphere inside the ground, it didn't arrive. Borre had a shot that was fielded by Alphonse Areola as the hosts looked to pull away. When the visitors did attack, Evan Ndicka was there to clear a glancing header off the line. Michail Antonio menaced for the Hammers but Frankfurt remained comfortable, with substitute Goncalo Paciencia getting into a good position late on before volleying wide. West Ham would see coach David Moyes red carded in frustration before the end while Tomas Soucek headed his team's last chance off target. It all means Eintracht banish the memories of 2019's Europa League last four defeat against Chelsea to set up a May 18 meeting with Rangers - conquerers of Leipzig in the night's other semi-final - at Seville's Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium.

Match stats

  • Borre now has three goals and two assists in this season's Europa League.
  • Frankfurt have won all five of their Europa League games in which Borre has scored or assisted, including the last three.
  • Kamada - Frankfurt’s five-goal top scorer in this season’s Europa League - is one of 11 surviving members of the Eintracht team that reached the 2018/19 semi-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Chelsea on penalties.
  • Frankfurt have reached their first UEFA competition final since beating Borussia Mönchengladbach over two legs in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup.
  • West Ham have still never won a UEFA fixture in Germany, previously losing 3-1 to Dortmund in the 1965/66 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals and 2-1 in Frankfurt at the same stage 10 years later.

Teams

Frankfurt: Trapp - Tuta, Hinteregger (Toure 8'), Ndicka - Knauff, Sow, Rode (c) (Jakic 76'), Kostic - Hauge (Hrustic 82'), Kamada - Borre (Paciencia 82')
Unused subs: Grahl, Lammers, Hasebe, Ache, Chandler, Da Costa, Lenz, Barkok
Out: Durm (ineligible), Ilsanker (ineligible), Lindstrom (hamstring), Ramaj (knee)
Coach: Oliver Glasner

West Ham: Areola - Coufal (Yarmolenko 870), Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell - Soucek, Rice (c) - Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals (Benrahma 74') - Antonio
Unused subs: Fabianski, Randolph, Vlasic, Noble, Diop, Fredericks, Masauku, Johnson, Kral, Alese
Out: Ogbonna (knee)
Coach: David Moyes

As it happened!