(Eintracht Frankfurt – West Ham 1-0, 3-1 overall) Jens Petter Hauge (22) played from the start when his Eintracht Frankfurt reached the final of the Europa League against Scottish Rangers. It was the Norwegian who was sent off when West Ham received an early red card.
Just updated
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Hauge got the chance from the start in his second match in a row as Danish Jesper Lindstrøm is out with injury. It was the 11th time he plays draw start this season, and for the third time in the Europa League.
The 22-year-old then also got a very central role in the drama in front of 52,000 spectators in Frankfurt.
The article is updated.
After 18 minutes, Hauge was played forward and was on his way through alone when he went over the end in the duel with West Ham back Aaron Cresswell. Judge Jesus Gil Manzano first awarded a free kick and a yellow card, but after studying the VAR pictures, he pulled up the red card.
Disagree on expulsion
– Rightly this is a red card, said Pål André Helland in Viaplay studio.
But studio colleague Eirik Bakke did not agree.
– I think it’s cheap. He’s over there, but I think it’s cheap, Bakke said before Helland countered:
– I want a red card there ten out of ten times. If you make an honest attempt to take the ball, it is not a red card, but it is not an honest attempt with those hands up there, Helland said.
With ten men and 1-2 in the first match, it was brutally tough for West Ham. And it was going to get worse, because just minutes after the expulsion, the score came.
Ansgar Knauff did the preparation and Rafael Borre knocked in 1-0 from eight meters away. It was the only goal of the match, and even if West Ham came to a couple of usable chances, it was never exciting. Until then, the hosts had good control of the Premier League team.
– We were so close to reaching the final. We gave it our all with ten men and created chances, but it was not meant to be, summed up a very disappointed West Ham captain Declan Rice after the game.
Towards the end of the match, it became very amp, and a furious West Ham manager David Moyes was sent up to the stands when he simply lost his temper on the sidelines. Hauge was right near Moyes when he received the red card. Moyes seemed to be furious at the Norwegian, but seconds before the manager had thundered to a ball that almost hit the back of a ball girl.
The behavior may have a greater aftermath for the 59-year-old.
Watch the wild scenes from the train storm in Frankfurt:
Five minutes later, Hauge was replaced with what looked like a cramp. The final will be played in Sevilla on May 18, and the opponent is the Scottish Rangers who won 3-1 at home against RB Leipzig and 3-2 overall.
Eintracht Frankfurt fans stormed the pitch with sheer joy as the final whistle blew, and the wild cheers could create trouble for the Bundesliga club. The teams’ supporters were in clashes before the match, and large police forces were in place without being able to prevent the pitch storm.
42 years after the last European final, Eintracht Frankfurt gets another chance. In the UEFA Cup final in 1980, the team lost 2-3 against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The team reached the semi-finals of the Europa League three years ago, but then lost to Chelsea on a penalty kick.
PS! The winner of the Europa League final qualifies for next season’s Champions League. Eintracht Frankfurt is in 11th place in the Bundesliga, and has no chance of securing Champions League games via the league.
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