Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt to battle for Europa League title
Sports Desk, May 5 (EFE).- Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers prevailed Thursday over West Ham United and RB Leipzig, respectively, to set up a first-ever meeting between the two clubs in the May 18 Europa League final.
Rangers rebounded from a 1-0 away loss in the first leg at Leipzig to pummel the Red Bulls 3-1 in Glasgow for a 3-2 aggregate win. Eintracht, who started with a 2-1 advantage, added a goal to triumph 3-1 against a Hammers side that played 71 minutes with 10 men.
The last time the Scottish club vied for a continental final was 2008, when they finished runners-up to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Europa League.
Eintracht’s most recent taste of glory in Europe came in the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup, where they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park was packed for Thursday’s second leg with West Ham, whose prospects of overcoming the 2-1 deficit dimmed considerably in the 19th minute when a VAR review led the referee to change a yellow card to red for Aaron Cresswell’s foul in the box against Jens Petter Hauge.
Just seven minutes later, Rafael Santos Borre stretched Eintracht’s lead to 3-1 with an assist from Ansgar Knauff.
Michail Antonio and Tomas Soucek threatened for the Hammers, but failed to put anything past Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp and the Bundesliga club booked their ticket to Seville.
In Scotland, Rangers went up 2-1 on aggregate midway through the first half on goals by James Tavernier and Glen Kamara.
But Christopher Nkunku brought Leipzig level with a tremendous strike in the 70th minute and the crowd at Ibrox held their collective breath until John Lundstram scored in the 80th to seal the tie. EFE
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