This Friday, at the headquarters of the European Football Union, it will be decided under what omens the Europa League will enter its decisive phase this season.

The names of eight teams will then be in the draw in Nyon at lunchtime when chance will determine who meets in the quarter-finals.

The Frankfurt Eintracht is also one of the teams that have a say in the title race.

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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The Hessians qualified for the next knockout duel with a 1-1 after extra time in the second leg against Betis Sevilla.

The decisive goal came in the 121st minute by Martin Hinteregger.

After narrowly winning the first game in Spain (2-1), this time it was 0-1 after regulation time.

Since away goals no longer count twice this season, extra time came, which included many things that make football fans' hearts beat faster - and gave the Hessians a spectacular happy ending.

The success was sweetened by the prize money of 1.8 million euros.

Eintracht continues in the competition, which is a matter close to her heart, on April 7th and 14th.

Oliver Glasner's plan, how he intended to get to the goal with his team on Thursday, was based on a concentrated defensive performance, which should create the conditions to always make it clear to the opponent how difficult his task is.

Betis, his counterpart Manuel Pellegrini had finally announced, had arrived with the intention of correcting the poor impression of their first showdown and ensuring constant pressure that should force Eintracht to make mistakes.

Glasner had tried to prepare Frankfurt for this brisk pace and was able to fall back on a starting formation that corresponded to that of the previous weekend - on which they had made further progress together;

Sunday's 2-1 win over Bochum was the third win in a row that gave them

Sevilla with more vigor after the break

Against Seville you could see how Eintracht tried in front of 25,000 spectators to gain supremacy on the field through consistent duels.

However, she also lost the ball again and again and therefore had to put in some effort to catch up.

So it was the men in the green and white jerseys who initially made a more orderly impression.

Nabil Fekir and Youssouf Sabaly in particular contributed a lot to their swift switch from defense to attack, with the back three commanded by Hinteregger initially presenting themselves solidly in the forays.

The Hessians, with whom Djibril Sow excelled, had the first opportunity to take the lead as a guard to organize what was happening in midfield.

The only thing missing from his pass to Ansgar Knauff was the crowning achievement: the right winger took a brilliant shot, but the ball hit the bar (14').

Shortly afterwards, Sow himself tested keeper Rui Silva from a distance (19'), before Tuta intervened just in time on the other side to forestall Sabaly (29').

After the change of sides, it was the Spaniards who started with more vigour.

Three corners in a row showed their commitment, but lacked the determination to capitalize on it.

Eintracht fought back with a lot of running effort, so that an exchange of blows developed back and forth between the penalty areas.

What the game lacked in playful brilliance it made up for in the tension that affected everyone involved.

The atmospheric atmosphere obviously had an invigorating effect on Hinteregger in particular.

The Austrian, who admits he needs the sound from the stands to perform at his best, was passionate about his role as guard between the centre-backs.

In the 55th minute, he threw himself at Joaquin's feet, who otherwise would have shot freely.

Also worth seeing is the save that Kevin Trapp parried against Juanmi (65').

A few centimeters were missing from Filip Kostic's free kick, which rushed past friend and foe, but then smacked the post (63rd) and heralded a hectic final phase of regular time.

Because the evening was not over as early as Frankfurt had hoped: Borja Iglesias forced Betis to go 1-0 in the 90th minute.

But no matter how hard Sevilla tried to catch up, they couldn't get a second shot afterwards.

The bar stood in the way of Iglesias (110').

Instead, Eintracht closed the ranks and finally struck through Hinteregger - which was enough for them to be happy that evening thanks to the preliminary work in Andalusia.