The respect for West Ham is enormous - and so is the anticipation of the sporting competition with the English.

"This semi-final is the biggest game of my career," said Oliver Glasner around 24 hours before kick-off at West Ham United in the catacombs of the London Stadium.

“We need our best possible performance and we will play to win again now.

It will be a hot duel.” The Eintracht coach in attack mode – and with him his team, which has prepared meticulously and in the well-known way for the semi-finals in the Europa League.

Ralph Weitbrecht

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

As with the previous attractive away games in Piraeus, Istanbul, Seville and Barcelona, ​​the team also had their final training session at West Ham United on familiar ground at the Frankfurt Arena completed.

Recharge your batteries for the challenging task at the "Hammers".

The laborers from East London are a heavy hitter.

West Ham are known for their uncompromising commitment and the constant high risk of counterattacks.

But Eintracht feels ready to resist and keep alive the dream of another official flight to Seville, then for the final on May 18th.

"We have an opportunity to achieve something incredible," said Djibril Sow, who was seated next to Glasner on the podium at the London Stadium.

"The whole of Frankfurt is looking forward to this game." Glasner's team gets a good deal of self-confidence from the bravura coup against Barcelona.

A success against the premier class leader, seemingly for eternity.

"Total Anticipation"

Philip Holzer estimates that the semi-finals are even higher than the still possible qualification for the Champions League of the coming season.

The chairman of the supervisory board of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG told the “Kicker” at the beginning of the week: “A win in the Europa League counts just as much as a win in the Champions League.

And this UEFA coefficient ranking results in long-term plannable income for our club.”

For the long-standing investment banker, this is "more important than the one-off effect of participating in the Champions League" for future planning.

But of course: Holzer also knows that because of the sobering Bundesliga season so far, the long-awaited return to Europe will only lead to a final victory in Seville.

Otherwise there is a risk of at least a year without international competition.

Holzer is looking forward to the two semifinals against the Hammers “with total anticipation”.

He is convinced: "The team will give everything again, under new circumstances and with the same spirit.

Despite this, West Ham will be much, much more difficult than Barcelona.” It is the third time in three years that Eintracht have had to prove themselves in London.

In the 2018/2019 Europa League campaign, there was that epic semi-final at Stamford Bridge, where Eintracht were unlucky to lose to Chelsea on penalties.

In the following season, the trip led again to the world capital of football and to Arsenal FC.

There was a deserved win in the group stage and it was something like the European birth of the Japanese Daichi Kamada.

The whirling Kamada scored both goals in the 2-1 win.

So now West Ham.

Curtain up in London for the third time.