Barcelona (dpa) – The soccer heroes from Eintracht Frankfurt immediately stormed onto the pitch, danced and sang with their fans. Match winner Filip Kostic grabbed the game ball directly after the self-proclaimed game of the century.
Driven by their 30,000 own supporters, the Hessians wrote a small piece of football history and memorably knocked out the great FC Barcelona from the Europa League. In the legendary Camp Nou, the team of coach Oliver Glasner furiously prevailed 3: 2 (2: 0) and, like in 2019, made it into the semi-finals of the competition. When the Barca anthem sounded after the final whistle, there was no stopping Kostic and Co. They did a lap of honor in the stadium.
“It was perfect the way it was,” said goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on RTL and was already looking at the semi-finals: “We showed today that we don’t have to hide from anyone. Of course we want to go to the final.” On April 28th and May 5th they will face West Ham United, the second European triumph after the UEFA Cup victory in 1980 seems absolutely within reach after the huge coup against the top favorites. The final will be held in Seville on May 18, and RB Leipzig is still there.
In front of a total of around 90,000 spectators, Filip Kostic (4th minute / penalty kick / 67th) and Rafael Borré (36th) scored the goals for Eintracht, who showed no sign of nervousness and deservedly progressed. For the highly decorated club from Spain it is the next low blow after the premature exit from the Champions League.
In the wild stoppage time, captain Sergio Busquets (90 + 1) shortened. Then Memphis Depay (90+10) sunk a penalty kick. Previously, Frankfurt’s Evan Ndicka (90 + 10) had also seen yellow and red. But it was no longer enough for the favorite. “It’s a huge disappointment,” admitted Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez. “Eintracht Frankfurt were better, especially in the first half. We tried in the second half, but we weren’t good enough.”
A unique holiday for the Hessians
The Frankfurt players and trainer Glasner stood, sat, sang and celebrated long after the final whistle in front of and with their fans. It was the continuation of a Hessian party day in the Catalan metropolis. More than 30,000 fans had come specially and sometimes with great effort. Just in time for the day of the game, the spring weather was perfect with almost 20 degrees. And the Eintracht fans were everywhere: in the big squares of the city, along the Ramblas, at the port, on the beach.
Club president Peter Fischer drank cans of beer in Plaça de Catalunya with the fans, most of whom dressed in white – the color of Barça’s arch-rivals Real Madrid – and then flocked to the stadium in huge crowds. “Europe’s best team” was repeated over and over again, and the tourists on the sightseeing buses were able to see an attraction that Barcelona has never seen before.
In the stadium there was a fanatical mood – otherwise more familiar from South America – which was not only due to the huge number of Eintracht supporters. But calm quickly returned to the Catalan fan base when Eric Garcia clumsily tore opponent Jesper Lindström to the ground after just two minutes. Kostic converted the following penalty safely against national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. The guests initially missed further opportunities because Borré repeatedly played too imprecisely in counterattacks.
Heated, emotional and varied
With the lead behind them, the Glasner team initially focused their attention on the defensive. Goalscorer Kostic acted at times as a left-back in a five-man chain. Barça wingers Ousmane Dembélé and Ferran Torres had strong individual moves, but Eintracht kept throwing three or four opponents at them.
The game was heated, emotional and varied. Ansgar Knauff, who already stood out with a dream goal in the first leg, started a solo worth seeing, but this time the end was too harmless. What you couldn’t say about Borré’s shot: The previously unfortunate Colombian took measurements from a good 20 meters and completed the goal powerfully to make it 2-0.
After the break, the lower tier of Barcelona’s corner suddenly remained empty with supporters apparently protesting the club’s ticketing policy. The 30,000 Frankfurters in the Camp Nou were too much for them, the amazing result did the rest. After about ten minutes they came back loudly.
When Kostic broke through on the left and almost easily scored the third goal, the matter seemed settled and a team that was actually built for the Champions League victory was finally defeated. Tens of thousands of Frankfurters sang loudly “Oh, how beautiful that is” and thus outvoted the supporters of the hosts. Later it was even said: “One goes, one goes in.” But they had to survive the exciting final phase. The final whistle was the start of a long night of celebrations.