Staff Reporter.
Eintracht Frankfurt stunned Barcelona with a dramatic victory at the Nou Camp to set up a Europa League semi-final against West Ham.
The result sees the Bundesliga side advance to the semifinals on the back of a 4-3 aggregate win across the two legs, while Barca’s hopes of a European trophy in 2021-22 were ended.
Filip Kostic’s penalty and Rafael Borre’s superb strike were followed by another for Kostic after the break.
But Sergio Busquets’ effort and Memphis Depay’s penalty set up a tense finish.
Frankfurt defender Evan Ndicka was also sent off for a second yellow card for what looked a soft foul on Luuk de Jong for the spot-kick, with nine minutes added on following a VAR malfunction.
But Frankfurt, who sit ninth in the Bundesliga and won this competition in its previous guise in 1980, saw out a memorable victory to the delight of their almost 30,000 travelling fans.
Barcelona, on a superb run since the arrival of Xavi, did not know how to cope with the Bundesliga outfit’s clinical counter-attacks and Frankfurt could have had more.
Kostic slotted the first from the spot following a foul by Eric Garcia but the goal of the game came from Borre, who thundered a strike into the roof of the net from distance.
The hosts had chances of their own and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed over in the first half before failing to connect with Ousmane Dembele’s low cross in the second.
Busquets saw an initial effort ruled out for offside in added time before sparking a dramatic finish with a well-taken goal, but the hosts ran out of time after Depay’s penalty just crept over the line.
“I am speechless,” Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp said after the match. “Nobody expected this, to be honest. Everyone expected us to suffer here.
“We needed to take our chances and today we were very efficient. We are in the last four and we want to get as far as possible. We showed we don’t have to hide from anybody, but no doubt, now we want to make the final.”
“What we did was insufficient today despite the heroic attempt in the end,” Xavi Hernandez said. “It is very disappointing. We did not play well. We had control and possession, but found no spaces to hurt them.”
The semi-finals are set! ?
? Who’s heading to Sevilla? #UEL pic.twitter.com/1vk29ef0fK
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) April 14, 2022
Frankfurt will take on West Ham United, who beat Lyon in their quarterfinal matchup, with the first leg set for April 28 and the decisive second on May 5.