Europa League: Eintracht Frankfurt wins semi-final first leg at West Ham United | hessenschau.de
Eintracht Frankfurt sets the next exclamation mark in the Europa League: By beating West Ham United, the Hessians have secured a strong starting position for the second leg.
Eintracht Frankfurt has opened the door to the Europa League final: In the semi-final first leg on Thursday evening, the team won 2-1 (1-1) at West Ham United. Ansgar Knauff (1st minute) and Daichi Kamada (55th) scored for Frankfurt, and Michail Antonio (21st) equalized in the meantime.
Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner had to change his team to two positions: As expected, Djibril Sow confirmed for the suspended Kristijan Jakic in the team, Almamy Touré took over the left flank in the back three from the suspended Evan N’Dicka.
Borré crosses, Knauff heads
And Frankfurt were immediately up to speed in the London Stadium: Rafael Borré was still able to cross from the edge of the penalty area in the first minute. Knauff ran in at the right moment and headed the ball over the line to give Eintracht an early lead. West Ham weren’t shocked for too long, however. In the 14th minute, Jarrod Bowen appeared free in front of Kevin Trapp, but only shot against the post.
The equalizer came in the 21st minute: Kurt Zouma headed a free-kick cross into the middle, where Antonio completed the goal with a long leg to make it 1-1. In an exciting and balanced first half, Eintracht had the best chance when Knauff was able to hold the ball in the penalty area, but just missed the goal after a turn.
Kamada hits the goal and the post
At the beginning of the second round, Eintracht regained their lead. Jesper Lindstrom played Sow wonderfully freely. Sow’s shot was denied by West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola, but Kamada stroked the rebound over the line from close range (55 minutes).
West Ham then pressed for the equalizer, Eintracht bravely held back and hardly allowed anything. There was a moment of shock in the 68th minute: Said Benrahma, who had just come on as a substitute, took aim from a distance but only hit the outer post. The Hessians also had bad luck at the post when Kamada completed a counterattack worth seeing with a flick to the aluminum (79th). The aluminum triple made a spectacular overhead kick by Bowen in injury time, which bounced off the crossbar back into the field. Great relief for Eintracht – and shortly afterwards great cheering at the final whistle.
hr reporter physically attacked
During the game, there was a scandal in the stands: West Ham fans attacked the two hr reporters Philipp Hofmeister and Tim Brockmeier during the equalization. The incident was broadcast live on hr-iNFO. Luckily neither of them made any serious discoveries.
End of further information
Second leg in Frankfurt next Thursday
The second leg will take place next Thursday at 9 p.m. in the Frankfurt Arena – then it will be decided who advances to the Europa League final on May 18 in Seville. Eintracht have to worry about the use of Lindström, who hobbled off the pitch in London after about an hour with an injury. Jakic and N’Dicka, on the other hand, will return after their suspensions.
West Ham United 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (1-1)
west ham: Areola – Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell – Soucek, Rice – Bowen, Fornals, Lanzini (66.Benrahma) – Antonio
Frankfurt: Trapp – Tuta, Hinteregger, Toure – Knauff, Sow, Rode, Kostic – Lindstrom (62nd Hauge), Kamada – Borre (90th Ache)
Crack: 0-1 Knauff (1st), 1-1 Antonio (21st), 1-2 Kamada (54th)
yellow cards:-/ Sow, Hinteregger
Judge: Gözübüyük (Netherlands)
Viewers: 60,000 (sold out)
End of further information