Eintracht Frankfurt wins the semi-finals of the Europa League at West Ham United and can secure a place in the final in the second leg.
West Ham United 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (1-1)
| Areola—Johnson, C. Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell—Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Lanzini—Antonio |
| Trapp – Tuta, Hinteregger, Toure – Knauff, Sow, Rode, Kostic, Lindstrom, Kamada – Borré |
| 0-1 Knauff (1st minute), 1-1 Antonio (21st minute), Kamada (54th minute) |
| Gözübüyük, Serdar (Netherlands) |
THE END: That’s it in London! Eintracht Frankfurt put in a convincing performance and won the Europa League semi-final first leg at West Ham United 2-1. This gives the SBU the best chance of making it to the final in a week.
92 minutes: Spectacular scene! Bowen starts the overhead kick in the Eintracht penalty area and hammers the ball to the lower edge of the crossbar. Good luck to the SGE!
90 minutes: Overtime is three minutes.
89 minutes: Now the chance, but Bowen’s header is deflected to the corner, which brings nothing.
87 minutes: West Ham fail to build pressure and put Eintracht under pressure.
84 minutes: Only the 3000 Frankfurters who traveled with them can currently be heard in the stadium, and there is very little from the fans of the hosts.
81 minutes: Martin Hinteregger sees a yellow card after a foul.
79 minutes: Kamada almost made it 3-1, but his shot just smacks the post.
77 minutes: Hinteregger is down, but West Ham continues to play. Captain Rode is beside himself and shows that to the English.
75 minutes: The final quarter of an hour has begun and the SGE continues to lead 2-1 in London.
69 minutes: Substitute Benrahma plays two SGE players and flicks from over 20 meters to the far corner, but the ball misses by a hair’s breadth. Take a deep breath!
65 minutes: West Ham hasn’t come up offensively in the second half so far. Eintracht Frankfurt is clearly leading and going for the third goal.
62 minutes: Hauge comes on for the injured Lindstrom.
61 minutes: Lindström is injured and remains on the ground. It doesn’t seem to go any further for the Dane.
54 minutes: TOOOOOOOR for Eintracht! The SGE combines on the left, Lindström releases Sow, who still fails at keeper Areola, but Kamada is there and pushes the ball over the line.
49 minutes: Soucek tries to take it straight after a cross from Antonio, but his shot clearly misses Trapp’s goal.
48 minutes: By the way, both teams came out of the dressing room unchanged.
46 minutes: Let’s continue with the second half.
halftime: 45 intensive minutes are over and the score is 1:1. The SBU took the lead after a few seconds, West Ham equalized with a standard situation. It’s a duel on an equal footing, Eintracht Frankfurt has been doing very well so far.
45 minutes: Sebastian Rode with an uncompromising straddle at the center line – strong action by the SBU captain.
39 minutes: Big chance for Eintracht! A pass into the penalty area to Knauff doesn’t work, but the goal scorer to make it 0-1 wins the ball, turns around and finishes, but his attempt narrowly misses the goal of the hosts.
37 minutes: Toure loses the ball on his own goal line, then it goes quickly. The Eintracht defense can prevent the pass on Antonio in the penalty area with combined forces.
35 minutes: Kostic just tries it from 25 meters, but his shot lands in the stands of the London Stadium.
32 minutes: West Ham continue to control what is happening on the pitch, but the huge pressure has now eased.
27 minutes: Kamada dances out his opponent and could shoot with his left, but he decides to cross the pass and misses the chance to take the lead again.
21 minutes: West Ham with the equalizer that has been hinted at in the last few minutes and it falls through a set piece. A long ball finds Zouma, who puts his head across to Antonio, who has no trouble overcoming Trapp from close range.
19 minutes: West Ham now controls the game and keeps trying from the outside. Eintracht is extremely dangerous on the counterattack.
15 minutes: Post! The first time that West Ham can combine through half of Eintracht and directly there is a big chance. Bowen is sent steeply and emerges clear of Trapp. The SBU keeper is still slightly on his shot and steers the ball to the aluminum.
12 minutes: The SBU pulls back a bit and waits for a counterattack. West Ham have a lot of ball possession, but have not been able to do much with it so far.
7 minutes: Harmony again, but Zouma clears a cross from Filip Kostic.
4th minute: What a start for the SGE, which takes the lead after a few seconds. There is no better way to start a game.
1st minute: GOOOOOOOOOOR for Eintracht! After less than 60 seconds, the SBU leads in London! Ansgar Knauff heads a Borre cross into the far corner – 0:1!
1st minute: Kick-off at the London Stadium, Eintracht play in black and white from right to left
++ 8.55 p.m.: The 22 players stand in the players’ tunnel and get ready to enter the pitch. The London Stadium is completely sold out with 60,000 spectators.
++ 8.43 p.m: The mood is great at the London Stadium. The 3,000 Eintracht fans who traveled with them celebrate in the guest block and make themselves loudly heard even before the game begins.
++ 8:29 p.m.: West Ham United have great respect for Eintracht Frankfurt, as coach Moyes confirmed: “Beating Barcelona over two games was an incredible achievement. That shows what qualities the people of Frankfurt have. I see some parallels with my team, it will be an interesting game.”
++ Update from April 28, 7:46 p.m.: West Ham United and Eintracht Frankfurt line-ups are in. The two trainers have decided on the following personnel:
West Ham United: Areola—Johnson, C. Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell—Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Lanzini—Antonio
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Tuta, Hinteregger, Toure – Knauff, Sow, Rode, Kostic, Lindstrom, Kamada – Borré
First report: London – The Europa League continues for Eintracht Frankfurt. Two weeks after the glittering night of football and the 3-2 win at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona, the semi-finals are now upon us. In the first leg, the SGE has to play West Ham United in London, and a week later the return leg in the Main metropolis. The Eagles want to get the best possible starting position in the fight for a place in the final and return from London with a good result.
Eintracht Frankfurt is confident in the game against West Ham United
“The team is in good shape. We have a lot of respect for West Ham United, but we also go into the game with a lot of confidence. The anticipation is great,” said the coach Oliver Glasner at the pre-game press conference. “We’re in the semi-finals of the Europa League. We are among the top four in this competition. And we’re standing there, just like West Ham, deservedly so. I think it will be a hot duel tomorrow,” the coach continued.
The respect for the opponent is great, but the SBU is hot for the duel in the London Stadium, as Glasner revealed: “West Ham is very compact. They are physically very strong, prefer a quick game into the top and are enormously dangerous from set pieces. It’s going to be a difficult game but we’re looking forward to the challenge.” Midfielder Djibril Sow echoed his coach’s statement: “English teams come into the game with high intensity. We know that, we have to be ready for that. But the anticipation in the team is very high. Also for me that I’m fit in time and can be there again.”
Eintracht Frankfurt wants to play to win in London
Tactics and playing for a possible draw are out of the question for Eintracht Frankfurt. “After Hoffenheim we turned our eyes straight back to West Ham. And tomorrow’s game plan is also clear: We’ll play to win,” says Oliver Glasner with his usual self-confidence. Djjbril Sow already notices the tingling before the first leg in the Europa League: “You started playing football for games like this. You notice this special tension days beforehand. You don’t need any extra motivation. We have a huge opportunity to achieve something incredible this year.”
Eintracht Frankfurt fans will be significantly less in the stadium in London than in Barcelona, because the SBU only got 3000 tickets. “The West Ham fans will definitely be in the right mood tomorrow. But the 3,000 Eintrachtler also. We are happy about every Frankfurter who is here and supports us”, Glasner is sure of the support of the visiting fans. (smr)