Bundesliga
Eintracht Frankfurt were knocked out of the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League following a narrow home loss to Tottenham Hotspur in their quarter-final second leg.
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs win 2-1 on agg.)
Goals: 0-1 Solanke (pen. 43')
It was all set up to be another memorable night for 2021/22 Europa League winners Frankfurt following last week's 1-1 draw in London. Hugo Ekitiké was on target in the first leg, but the Frenchman ploughed a lonely furrow for long periods at Deutsche Bank Park. Eintracht weren't helped by the 17th-minute loss of Mario Götze to injury, and their task was made a whole lot harder on the strike of half-time, when Dominic Solanke scored from the spot after Kauã Santos had been penalised for a rash challenge on James Maddison.
Frankfurt substitute Farès Chaïbi fired off a long-range warning shot after the restart, before Spurs defender Cristian Romero ratcheted up the tension in the air by sending a very presentable header off target. Chaïbi forced a superb save from Vicario at the other end as Eintracht turned the screw, with Rasmus Kristensen unable to convert on the rebound. Ekitiké misfired from a late corner as Dino Toppmöller's side - the Bundesliga's last team standing in Europe this season - exited the competition.
Teams
Frankfurt: Santos - Kristensen, Koch (c), Tuta, Theate - Skhiri, Larsson (Wahi 76') - Brown (Knauff 76'), Götze (Chaïbi 17'), Bahoya (Uzun 58') - Ekitiké
Unused subs: Grahl, Siljevic, Amenda, Dahoud, Chandler, Nkounkou, Batshuayi, Collins
Out: Matanović (ineligible), Trapp (ineligible)
Coach: Dino Toppmöller
Tottenham: Vicario - Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie - Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison (c) (Kulusevski 45'+1) - Johnson (Danso 85'), Solanke, Tel (Sarr 79')
Unused subs: Austin, Whiteman, Bissouma, Richarlison, Gray, Spence, Odobert, Davies, Moore
Out: Dragusin (knee), Son (foot)
Coach: Ange Postecoglou
As it happened!
Theate earns himself a yellow card for complaining at Romero despite the fact that the Argentine is bleeding from his head. Complete head loss.
Romero goes down with a head injury after a cross. There'll be about two minutes left when play resumes.
That's how long Frankfurt have left to save this one.
Everybody is looking at the referee now. How long do we still have left to play?
That change says everything about how Spurs plan on approaching these final few minutes. That's a centre-back on for a winger.
Every chance seems to be falling his way. This time, he has another great chance to shoot after the initial effort is blocked and again he fluffs it.
That's Frankfurt's best chance of the night. The ball comes into the box low from the left before dropping to Kristensen on his left foot. He has so much of the goal to hit, but he places his shot wide.
Tuta puts in a fantastic cross that Wahi gets on the end of. His header is saved comfortably, though, as it didn't have the power.
Not once but twice. Firstly, Chaïbi forces a brilliant save from Vicario after he gets on the end of Kristensen's cross. Kristensen himself then goes agonisingly close as his header back across goal skims past the far post.
Ekitiké goes down clutching his foot after a challenge from Romero in the box, but the ref waves play on. Didn't look like there was anything in that.
This time, it is Bentancur who goes close from a corner, but his effort goes narrowly over the bar.
Spurs win a corner, the rebound is then worked out to Tel, who skips inside and shoots, but his effort is too high. Spurs look like they want a second.
A loose ball falls for the onrushing Tuta on the edge of the box, but his effort is high.
From the resulting corner, Romero goes agonisingly close for Spurs. He gets up highest for the ball in, Santos is in no-man's land, but luckily for him, the header drifts just wide.
Kulusevski and Johnson exchange passes in the Frankfurt box, but the former can't get his shot through the bodies.
Should Frankfurt turn this around, then they will be playing the first leg of the semi-final without Kristensen after he picks up a yellow for a poor challenge on Udogie.
The hosts are looking for a way back into this, but so far, every opportunity has been closed down well.
Theate wins a free-kick some 35 yards out. Chaïbi decides to go for goal and he has Vicario scrambling. That wasn't far away.
Can the hosts find the goal they need?
But not for one of the players. The home coaching staff react angrily as Johnson goes in hard on Brown and one of the staff members is sent off for entering the pitch.
The hosts have a corner to finish the half, but it is headed away.
Can Frankfurt respond before half-time?
Maddison becomes the second player to leave the field with an injury after being on the receiving end of that challenge from Santos. Kulusevski comes on.
Big moment this, Maddison gets on the end of a long ball over the top and heads one towards goal. At the same time, Santos comes flying out and clatters into Maddison at full speed. Maddison's header did hit Santos's head, so he may be alright, but it is certainly a big call.
After a slow start, the visitors are now getting a hold of the ball and have Frankfurt pinned in.
Frankfurt have put a series of excellent crosses into the box so far, but as of yet, nobody has been able to get a meaningful touch on one. The balls are coming in with real pace, so it won't need much for a flick on to cause problems.
Tel picks up the ball just inside the left channel, skips inside and unleashes a strike from 30 yards out that is well saved by Santos.
This time it is Chaïbi with the shot as he gets his head on a cross from the right, but once again, it is straight at Vicario.
Johnson gets down the right at pace before finding Bayern loanee Tel in the middle, but he skews his shot wide. That was a good opportunity had he connected properly.
And unfortunately, Frankfurt's playmaker can't continue. He is replaced by Chaïbi. That's a big blow for the hosts.
Ekitiké is fed through the middle by a long ball and seems to have a chance for 1-0, but Van de Ven recovers magnificently to smother the chance.
More potential bad news for the hosts as Götze goes down holding his hamstring.
Bit of a worry for Frankfurt this as Koch is down holding his head after a challenge with Solanke but he seems fit to continue after some treatment.
Frankfurt's veteran midfielder picks up a loose ball from a corner and hits one, but again it is straight at Vicario.
Hugo Ekitiké was on target as Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur in their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Goals: 0-1 Ekitiké 6' (assist: Skhiri), 1-1 Porro 26' (assist: Maddison)
Dreaming of a repeat of their triumphant 2021/22 Europa League campaign, Frankfurt got off to the perfect start in London. Elyes Skhiri picked off James Maddison's errant pass and found Ekitiké, who matched the quality of the Tunisian's razor-sharp assist with a fabulous finish from 18 yards. Tottenham slowly wrestled back the initiative, though, and were level 20 minutes later courtesy of a well-taken strike on the turn by Pedro Porro. Frankfurt almost got their noses back in front on the stroke of half-time, but Guglielmo Vicario was well placed to deny Ekitiké's attempt following a corner.
Eintracht did well to weather a testing Tottenham storm early in the second half. After Lucas Bergvall rattled the woodwork, Kauã Santos did really well to deny former Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Heung-Min Son before Rodrigo Bentancur sent a corner onto the crossbar and Santos thwarted Maddison at close quarters. Spurs continued to ask all the questions as Bentacur put a header wide and Santos kept out Micky van de Ven's last-gasp attempt, but Frankfurt held on. They now need to win at home on 17 April to reach the last four.