Europa League
Frankfurt and Leipzig win semi-final first legs – ARD reporter beaten during live broadcast in the stadium
Ansgar Knauff scored the 1-0 lead for Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final first leg of the Europa League against West Ham United after less than a minute
© Glyn Kirk / AFP
A German final is possible: Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig win their semi-final first legs in the Europa League. Unpleasant scenes occur in the press box during Frankfurt’s guest performance in London.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s unbelievable Europa League story could be enriched by a (final) chapter. Coach Oliver Glasner’s team won a thrilling semi-final first leg against English representative West Ham United 2-1 (1-1) and thus secured a promising position for the second leg in Frankfurt.
The intensively led party started furiously: After less than a minute, Frankfurt Eintracht took the lead. Ansgar Knauff headed a fine cross from Rafael Borré into West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola’s goal from around five yards out. The equalizer came twenty minutes later. After a free kick, Michail Antonio was able to push in from a short distance.
After the break, Eintracht scored the winning goal in the 54th minute. After a fine combination game on the left, Djibril Sow finished, Areola could only save to the side and Daichi Kamada then pushed the ball behind the line.
In the final minute, victory was in danger of slipping through the fingers, but a spectacular overhead kick from West Ham striker Jarrod Bowen only hit the crossbar. In the end, 3,000 Eintracht fans who had traveled with them and their team were able to celebrate the 2-1 victory in London’s Olympic Stadium – and hope to make it into the final.
Attack on two ARD reporters at Eintracht Frankfurt game
The rousing football evening was spoiled by attacks on two radio reporters from the Hessischer Rundfunk. After the 1-1 equalizer, Philipp Hoffmeister and Tim Brockmeier could not be heard in their live report for a short time and then described what had happened to them. “We’re being attacked from behind and they just threw the headset down on our colleague Tim,” said Hoffmeister, audibly dismayed. “We really have to be a bit careful about what we’re doing here.” The reporter team had to protect themselves “from the people sitting behind us”. These are with “a lot of aggression on the road”. The incident was a “little shock”, reported the journalists while the game was going on. “It’s crazy what happened,” said Hoffmeister live. There were also fist punches. “I’ve never experienced that before.” However, the two ARD employees were apparently unharmed and were able to continue their reporting from the Olympic Stadium in London, albeit from a different seat in the second half.
RB Leipzig also wins the semi-final first leg of the Europa League
In the second Europa League semi-final first leg, RB Leipzig won 1-0 (0-0) at home against Glasgow Rangers from Scotland. Angeliño scored the winning goal in the 85th minute with a direct shot from behind. Leipzig can also hope for a place in the final.
The semi-final second leg will take place next Thursday at 9 p.m. (live in the stern ticker and on RTL+). The final will take place on May 18th at 9pm in Seville.
