Eintracht Frankfurt has on the way to the semi -finals of the Europa League developed a decent starting point. Unlike FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, the Hesse remained unbeaten in the quarter-final first leg at Tottenham Hotspur. For the dream of taking the final on May 21st in Bilbao, the Bundesliga club has to increase in the second leg next Thursday.
Hugo Ekitiké (6th minute) put the team of coach Dino Toppmöller in the lead, Pedro Porro (26th) achieved a compensation for the Premier League club before 57,849 spectators. The opponent of the return winner in the semi -finals is either outsider FK Bodo/Glimt or Lazio Rome – the first leg the Norwegians won 2-0.
The weak Bundesliga appearance at Werder Bremen (0: 2) seemed forgotten at Eintracht in the initial phase. Driven by Toppmöller on the sidelines, Frankfurt started confidently – and surprised the hosts. After preliminary work by Ellyes Skhiri, who won the decisive duel in midfield, Ekitiké scored the lead with a lot of pace over the left side from the penalty area.
Dangerous Tottenham
Topmöller had announced Tottenham compared to previous opponents in competition than once again. The Spurs, which are received with trumpet in the state-of-the-art stadium in northern London, only show 14th place in the Premier League. The team around ex-Bundesliga professional Heung-Min Son scores a number of goals.
After the Frankfurt leadership, Tottenham increasingly pushed towards the Eintracht penalty, especially on the left side of Son. A few times the Bundesliga professionals were able to clarify the ball before it could be really dangerous for their goalkeeper Kauã Santos. James Maddison’s cross on Porro prevented nobody – the defender achieved the deserved equalization.
The goal was visibly hit by the Frankfurters. The Hesse The train to the goal was now missing for a long time. Several false passes prevented an orderly building game, much to the trouble of Toppmöller, which in the meantime retreated to the bank from the edge of his coaching zone. A harmless shot from Ekitiké (45th) – much more did not come until half -time.
Frankfurt with luck after the break
Tottenham had better access to the game over long distances. Two and a half years ago in the game of both teams in the group phase of the Champions League (2: 3) Frankfurt had already conceded three goals in the first half, one of today’s Bavaria star Harry Kane.
Ten minutes after the half-time break, the crossbar (55th and 57th) saved and once the shiny reacting chewing (56th) after a strong trace actions, the still stumbling uniform in front of the second goal. At least the dangerous situations seemed to be a kind of wake -up call, before the end of the final phase the Hesse played again.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 250410-930-430817/1
