Off to Seville, off to the Europa League final.

Eintracht are really in and there was no end to the celebrations when the 1-0 win over West Ham United in the semi-final second leg on Thursday night was perfect.

The Frankfurt Arena, filled to the brim with 48,000 spectators, became a madhouse.

Singing, battle cries - the joy at the extraordinary achievement was huge.

Ralph Weitbrecht

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

"A dream is finally coming true.

World class," said Eintracht President Peter Fischer, surrounded by celebrating fans on RTL: "They played it differently.

This city and this environment deserve that.

This is football.

And now we win this thing.”

“We are exceptional as a team”

Oliver Glasner could hardly believe his luck either.

"It was an evening that you never forget," said the Eintracht coach and passed on all the praise to his players: "I said to the team: I don't know if you're the best players and I don't know if we are the best coaches.

But as a squad we are exceptional.”

Board spokesman Axel Hellmann is right in his assessment that reaching the final would be a "milestone in the history of the club".

The last time a Frankfurt football team was in a European Cup final was 42 years ago.

At that time there were two finals in the UEFA Cup against Borussia Mönchengladbach - and the winner was Eintracht.

Now on May 18 there is that one final in Seville and Eintracht's opponents are Glasgow Rangers.

The Scots defeated RB Leipzig 3-1.

Loud applause erupted for the first time 50 minutes before kick-off when goalkeeper Kevin Trapp entered the pitch for his warm-up program.

Peter Fischer provided the first emotional high point, before the ball even rolled.

The President took advantage of the opportunity to thank the 100,000 members who Eintracht recently found united under one roof.

"That's twice the hut full," said Fischer fervently.

Addressing the fans, Eintracht's first man expressed his wish for the game against West Ham: "Make a cauldron of it.

I'm counting on you.” The fans seemed to have listened to Fischer, because as things really got going, a huge choreography was gradually revealed.

"Northwest curve Frankfurt am Main - My city, my club" was written there - and the supporters kept shouting: "European Cup this year." Flags and confetti - it was pure partying.

Unfortunately also with pyrotechnics.

The “photo finish” that Glasner had hoped for did not come to fruition.

Jesper Lindstrom was unable to attend West Ham's knockout game due to his muscle injury.

The personal alternative for the Dane was his Nordic teammate Jens Petter Hauge.

Together with Daichi Kamada, Filip Kostic, Ansgar Knauff and Rafael Borré, the Norwegian was supposed to provide the stormy elements in the Eintracht game, with which Frankfurt wanted to inflict pain on the English.

In addition, Evan Ndicka returned to the starting XI and his traditional left-back position after serving a suspension.