Europa League

[DangerousSausage]

Anyone else captivated by this competition this season? I spent yesterday evening watching Eintracht Frankfurt deservedly winning away at Barcelona in front of 30,000 travelling fans. As all the flights to Barcelona were sold out, some even took a detour via Tunisia to be there. Eintracht exposed Barca with their fast counterattacking time and again and could have scored more than three. Barca, on the other hand, carved out very few chances until they woke up in stoppage time. It looked like the kind of evening you always dream about as a football fan, and I'm also relieved that the competition won't be won by a team that sees it as a consolation prize.

It'll be interesting to see Eintracht, West Ham and Rangers scrap it out in the semis - the competition means the world to all of them. Just have a sneaky feeling RB Leipzig will nick it instead.

[Dripsey3]

I think it will be a Rangers vs West Ham final. Rangers have done incredibly well to make it to the semi final. I think Leipzig will underestimate them. Frankfurt and West Ham should be a cracking tie. 

[DangerousSausage]

Good win for Frankfurt in an evenly matched semi-final at Wet Spam. Eintracht moved up a gear when they needed to in the second half and deserved the win, but the Hammers nearly got the draw at the death through a mad overhead kick from Bowen that had Kevin Trapp beaten. The home fans were a bit quiet considering the importance of the game, their team needed them. The second leg will be quite the occasion - Eintracht aren't particularly strong at home, so it's still anyone's.

Desperately crossing my fingers for Rangers in the other semi-final. Even the stupid Old Firm politics are preferable to Red Bull.

[DangerousSausage]

Eintracht sealed the deal then! The final was an old-school battle of attrition. Frankfurt edged it over the 90 minutes and had the better of the chances, but were hanging on in extra time. In the end it was a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out and further proof that bringing a player off the bench solely to take a penalty is a really naff idea.

As you might guess, Frankfurt has gone completely loopy and has collectively downed tools for the last couple of days. I'm really chuffed for them. They lost their manager, director of football and top scorer in the summer and flew out of the German cup in the first round, and still came away with their first European trophy in my lifetime. And Waldhof Mannheim were the only team to win a cup tie against them this season!