On a magical night at the Camp Nou, Eintracht Frankfurt sensationally disenchanted the great FC Barcelona.
In the rousing quarter-final second leg of the Europa League, the furious Frankfurters prevailed 3: 2 (2: 0) and gave the apparently overpowering world club from Spain an impressive lesson. The dream of a really big coup in your favorite competition is alive.
In the “duel of the century” with the massively favored Catalans, Filip Kostic (4th, penalty kick, 67th) and Rafael Borre (36th) sent the around 30,000 Eintracht fans traveling with them into ecstasy with their goals. The goals scored by Sergio Busquets (90+1) and Memphis Depay (90+11, penalty kick) didn’t change that.
“Nobody expected that. Everyone thought Barcelona would shoot us out of the stadium,” said goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on “RTL”.
Frankfurt’s Evan N’Dicka saw yellow-red (90+10). After the strong performance at 1: 1 in the first leg, the SGE delivered another big fight against the star ensemble of coach Xavi – and rewarded themselves as in 2019 with the semi-finals. West Ham United is waiting there.
The Europa League experts from Main were also the first German team – if you exclude Bayern Munich – to celebrate success again at the Camp Nou against Barca since the 1987/88 season. The big goal of coach Oliver Glasner’s team remains the final on May 18 in Seville.
Tens of thousands of Eintracht fans with white shirts had put the Catalan metropolis in a state of emergency – and after a march to the stadium, they also created a fabulous atmosphere in Barca’s football temple. On the field, Glasner brought in Almamy Toure for the suspended Tuta and Sebastian Rode for the injured Djibril Sow.
Dream start for the SGE
Eintracht got off to a dream start in one of the biggest games in their history. Jesper Lindström was knocked down by Barca defender Eric Garcia, Kostic gave national goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen no chance from the point.
The Catalans needed a moment in front of 79,468 spectators but took control as expected after the early shock. A lot of ball possession, a number of passes – apart from the chances for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (9th) and Ronald Araujo (18th) there were no clear shots. The dreaded Tiki-Taka barely made an appearance.
Eintracht defended passionately and kept pin pricking. Borre crowned an outstanding first half with a dream goal from around 20 meters. With the result, Barca was well served at the break, Ansgar Knauff (44th) just missed the third goal.
Frankfurt plays with will and passion
The five-time Champions League winner came out of the dressing room with anger. Aubameyang missed the ball from close range (48′) and failed a little later to SGE goalkeeper Kevin Trapp (56′). Despite the increasing pressure, Eintracht continued to counterattack bravely, Ter Stegen saved against Jesper Lindström (58th).
Frankfurt continued to fight defensively for every meter and countered the playful class of the favorites with will and passion. When Kostic completed a quick counter-attack for the third goal, all dams broke in the ranks of the Frankfurt fans.