Europe League
3-2 at Barcelona! Eintracht Frankfurt magically reached the semi-finals in the Campo Nou
Eintracht players celebrate 3-0 by Filip Kostic at FC Barcelona
© Arne Dedert / DPA
Eintracht Frankfurt made the sensation perfect: Thanks to an outstanding performance, the Hessians won 3-2 after a big fight at FC Barcelona and are in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The big European Cup nights are back! Driven by 30,000 of their own fans, Eintracht Frankfurt wrote a small piece of football history and memorably knocked out the great FC Barcelona from the Europa League. At the legendary Camp Nou, coach Oliver Glasner’s team won 3-2 (2-0) on Thursday and, like in 2019, made it into the semi-finals of the competition.
“It was perfect the way it was,” said goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on RTL and was already looking at the semi-finals: “We showed today that we don’t have to hide from anyone. Of course we want to go to the final.” Against West Ham United on April 28 and May 5; the British won 3-0 at Olympique Lyon. Despite the difficult opponent again: A second European triumph in the club’s history seems within reach for the Hessians after the huge coup against the top favorites. The final will be held in Seville on May 18th. RB Leipzig is still there after a 2-0 win at Atalanta Bergamo.
Filip Kostic (4th minute, penalty kick/67th) and Rafael Borré (36th) scored the goals for Eintracht in front of a total of around 90,000 spectators. For the highly decorated club from Spain it is the next low blow after the premature exit from the Champions League. In the wild stoppage time, captain Sergio Busquets (90 + 1) shortened. Then Memphis Depay (90+10) sunk a penalty kick. Previously, Frankfurt’s Evan Ndicka (90 + 10) had also seen yellow and red. The Catalans’ urgent phase came too late overall. “It’s a huge disappointment,” admitted Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez. “Eintracht Frankfurt were better, especially in the first half. We tried in the second half, but we weren’t good enough.”
Eintracht Frankfurt: Thanks to the fans, they have an advantage even before kick-off
Even before the showdown in the huge temple, Maundy Thursday became a unique football holiday for the Hessians. More than 30,000 fans had come specially and sometimes with great effort. Just in time for the day of the game, the spring weather was perfect with almost 20 degrees. And the Eintracht fans were everywhere: in the big squares of the city, along the Ramblas, at the port, on the beach.
Club president Peter Fischer drank cans of beer in Plaça de Catalunya with the fans, most of whom dressed in white – the color of Barça’s arch-rivals Real Madrid – and then flocked to the stadium in huge crowds. “Europe’s best team” was repeated over and over again, and the tourists on the sightseeing buses were able to see an attraction that Barcelona has never seen before.
“South American” enthusiasm
In the stadium there was a fanatical mood – otherwise more familiar from South America – which was not only due to the huge number of Eintracht supporters. But calm quickly returned to the Catalan fan base when Eric Garcia clumsily tore opponent Jesper Lindström to the ground after just two minutes. Kostic converted the following penalty safely against national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. The guests initially missed further opportunities because Borré repeatedly played too imprecisely in counterattacks.
With the lead behind them, the Glasner team initially focused their attention on the defensive. Goalscorer Kostic acted at times as a left-back in a five-man chain. Barça wingers Ousmane Dembélé and Ferran Torres had strong individual moves, but Eintracht kept throwing three or four opponents at them. Ex-Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed the greatest opportunity to equalize quickly and headed wide of the goal (8′).
After the break: Barcelona’s lower tier empty
The game was heated, emotional and varied. Ansgar Knauff, who already stood out with a dream goal in the first leg, started a solo worth seeing, but this time the end was too harmless. What you couldn’t say about Borré’s shot: The previously unfortunate Colombian took measurements from a good 20 meters and completed the goal to make it 2-0. Frankfurt’s fans jumped freely through the stadium, Barça coach Xavi Hernandez looked crippled at the much-touted top pitch at Camp Nou.
There was also after the break, when the lower tier in Barcelona’s curve was suddenly empty because the supporters were apparently protesting against the club’s ticket policy. The 30,000 Frankfurters at the Camp Nou were probably too much for them, the amazing result did the rest. After about ten minutes they came back loudly, Trapp had just defused a huge chance from Aubameyang.
“Oh, how beautiful” at the Camp Nou
When Kostic broke through on the left and almost effortlessly scored the third goal, the matter was settled and a team that was actually built to win the Champions League was finally defeated. Tens of thousands of Frankfurters sang loudly “Oh, how beautiful that is” and thus outvoted the supporters of the hosts. Later it was even said: “One goes, one goes in.” After the exciting final phase, the Eintracht jubilation erupted.