The Eintracht Frankfurt footballers deservedly qualified for the second round of the Champions League.
In the final of the first round qualifying tournament, the Hessians beat Italian runner-up Juventus Turin 5-4 on penalties in the 51,500-strong Deutsche Bank Park. After 120 minutes the score was 1-1 (1-1, 0-0). In extra time, Eintracht had three hits on the aluminum.
Sofia Cantore (48th), who came on as a substitute at the start of the second half, made it 1-0 for the five-time Italian champions. But the Slovenian Lara Prasnikar (66th) scored the equalizer for the hosts. Frankfurt’s Barbara Dunst (95th), Verena Hanshaw (99th) and Laura Freigang (102nd) each hit the aluminum in extra time.
Eintracht reached the final in front of their home crowd with a 1-0 (1-0) win against 1. FC Slovacko last Wednesday. Juve confidently prevailed 6-0 against WFC Okshetpes from Kazakhstan in the other semi-final of the mini-tournament. The Frankfurters last triumphed in the most important competition in European women’s football in 2015 under their original name 1. FFC Frankfurt.
The third-place finisher in the Bundesliga last season now has to prove themselves again in October in the second round, which will be played in a play-off format with two legs. There it’s all about the coveted twelve remaining starting places for the group phase of the Champions League.
The German champions Bayern Munich are directly qualified for this, while VfL Wolfsburg, as runners-up, has to enter the play-off round. The draw will take place on September 15th (1:00 p.m.).