Europa League: Eintracht fights draw against Barcelona

Europa League
1: 1 in the “game of the century”: Eintracht fights for a draw against Barcelona in the quarterfinals

Eintracht Frankfurt has successfully stood up to FC Barcelona and can continue to dream of reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League. The Bundesliga soccer club fought a deserved 1-1 (0-0) in the first quarter-final duel with the five-time Champions League winner on Thursday, which gives the Hessians, who are still unbeaten in the current competition, every chance of progressing. In front of 48,000 spectators, Ansgar Knauff gave Eintracht the lead in the 48th minute, which Ferran Torres (66th) equalized. The second leg at the Camp Nou will take place next Thursday. Then the Frankfurt defender Tuta, who saw the yellow-red card in the 78th minute, is missing.

“It was an unbelievable evening and a great experience for everyone involved in the stadium. We played a terrific game, allowing very little for 90 minutes. It’s a bit annoying that we didn’t take the win with us because we deserved it “Said goal scorer Knauff on RTL and announced: “Now we’ll see that we can go one round next week.”

Eintracht vs Barca: 0-0 at halftime

When it started, national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was able to distinguish himself under the eyes of national coach Hansi Flick. The Eintracht keeper deflected a long-range shot from Torres over the crossbar with his fingertips in the 3rd minute.

However, Eintracht was not at a loss for an answer. “We definitely want to travel to Barcelona with a result, where anything is still possible,” coach Oliver Glasner stressed again just before the start of the game. His team appeared correspondingly bold. First, a shot from Knauff was deflected to a corner, shortly afterwards Djibril Sow missed the greatest chance for an early lead. After preparatory work by Jesper Lindström, the Swiss shot freely from ten meters.

As expected, Barça had more possession of the ball, but the dreaded combination game of the Catalans had no effect against the Hessians, who are strong in running and fighting. Again and again, the hosts provided the rooms well. The favorites also suffered a personal setback midway through the first half: defender Gerard Pique hobbled off with a thigh injury and was replaced by Clément Langlet.

After 38 minutes, compact Eintracht thought they were on their way to making it 1-0 when referee Srdjan Jovanovic pointed to the penalty spot after an attack on Rafael Borré in the penalty area. But on the advice of the video assistant, the Serb checked his decision and revised it because Sergio Busquets had also played the ball in the action. It was goalless at half-time.

After the change, Eintracht got off to a dream start. A corner saved too short landed at Knauff, and the midfielder, on loan from Borussia Dortmund, hammered the ball into the corner from almost 20 meters. Marc-André ter Stegen in the visitors’ goal was powerless.

Visiting coach Xavi Hernandez reacted immediately and brought in fresh attacking power in Ousmane Dembélé and Frenkie de Jong. That paid off immediately, as the duo prepared the equalizer through Torres in an exemplary manner. Trapp had no chance when the striker shot low. In the final phase, Frankfurt brought the partial success outnumbered over time.

Leipzig against Bergamo also ends in a draw

The second quarter-final game with German participation also ended in a draw: the RB Leipzig players didn’t really know what to do with the result against Atalanta Bergamo. They were a little helpless on Thursday after the 1: 1 (0: 1) in the quarter-finals of the Europa League against the strong Serie A club on the pitch. An own goal by Davide Zappacosta (58th) had kept her hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the first time. But even a win was still possible for the hosts in the final phase – and that after one of the weaker performances of Leipzig under coach Domenico Tedesco.

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DPA