Eintracht Frankfurt has a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League. The Hessians won 2-1 at Spanish first division club Betis Sevilla on Wednesday evening and thus have every chance of progressing ahead of the second leg. Filip Kostic (14th) and Daichi Kamada (32nd) scored for Eintracht, Nabil Fekir (30th) scored the equalizer.
In front of 45,000 spectators, including at least 3,000 Eintracht fans, an exchange of blows developed from the start that was worthy of a Europa League round of 16. Eintracht started with very high pressing and landed the first goal. From the left wing, rascal Kostic twirled the ball in the direction of the far post, Betis keeper Claudio Bravo was surprised – and beaten (14′).
Kamada immediately hits back
After the opening goal, Frankfurt withdrew and let Sevilla have the ball. The hosts were initially not dangerous against Eintracht’s compact defence. Above all, clearer Kristijan Jakic convinced in the Frankfurt headquarters. So it took Fekir’s individual class to equalize. The French star once had space in the penalty area, let compatriot Evan N’Dicka out with a simple body trick and slid into the far corner (30′).
A damper for Eintracht, but it only lasted two minutes. Then Mr. Europacup Kamada was there and slotted in a Jesper Lindstrom assist after a dreadful mistake by the Betis defence. It was the Japanese’s fourth goal in the seventh EL game.
Borré just can’t get the ball in
Even after the change of sides, the game didn’t lose any of its momentum. Again and again, both teams quickly bridged the midfield, sometimes there were chances for both sides within a minute. Eintracht in particular created top opportunities, driven by the strong Kamada, but missed the opportunities for the preliminary decisions in this duel.
This was mainly due to Rafael Borré, who simply didn’t put the ball in the Betis goal this Wednesday despite the best chances. First the attacker shot a hand penalty (52′) weakly into the arms of keeper Bravo, then he failed in each case free-standing at the Sevilla goalkeeper (65’/67′). So the 2-1 is a great starting position for the second leg in Frankfurt next week, but in the end almost too little given the many possibilities.
Source: HR