A Filip Kostic double and Socceroo Ajdin Hrustic’s involvement off the bench helped Eintracht Frankfurt win 3-2 at Barcelona and continue their astonishing run in the Europa League to the semi-finals.
A reported 30,000 fans travelled from Germany for the quarter-final second leg and they had an unforgettable experience in the Camp Nou as their heroes humbled once mighty Barca.
Kostic’s penalty set the tone in just four minutes, after Eric Garcia fouled Jesper Lindström, and a rocket from Rafael Borre doubled the lead before the break.
Hrustic entered the fray in the 81st-minute as the German club completed one of the most famous victories in their history.
Socceroo Ajdin Hrustic. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
“Nobody expected this, if you are honest,” Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp told RTL.
“We needed to take our chances and today we were very efficient.
“We are in the semis now and we want to get as far as possible. We showed we don’t have to hide from anybody, but no doubt, now we want to make the final.”
Barcelona rallied at the start of the second period but Trapp saved from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kostic drilled into the bottom corner to settle the tie 4-3 on aggregate in the 67th minute.
Sergio Busquets netted to give Barcelona hope in injury-time but Luuk de Jong’s penalty, with the last action of the game, came too late to save them. Evan Ndicka was sent off in conceding the spot kick.
“It’s a big disappointment of course but that’s football,” Barcelona coach Xavi said.
“They were just better in the first half.”
Frankfurt are midtable in the Bundesliga but will meet West Ham in the last four, which has the first legs on April 28, after the Londoners also won 3-0 away to Lyon following their own 1-1 first leg draw.
Craig Dawson, Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen got the goals for David Moyes’ side who are in their first Europen semi-final since 1976.
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
There will be another Bundesliga representative in the semi-finals as RB Leipzig’s progressed thanks to Christopher Nkunku’s double at Atalanta.
Leipzig were held 1-1 at home last week but a controlled performance brought a deserved victory in Bergamo and a semi-final tie against Rangers, who beat nine-man Braga 3-2 on aggregate after extra-time.
Rangers dominated Braga from start to finish with full back James Tavernier opening the scoring in just two minutes to cancel Braga’s first-leg lead.
He then stroked home from the penalty spot before the break after Vítor Tormena was sent off but Rangers, who hit the woodwork three times in all and had three goals disallowed, conceded a late equaliser to David Carmo.
Kemar Roofe finally slammed in the winning goal for Rangers in the first added period and Braga’s hopes ended when Iuri Medeiros was booked for a tackle and immediately given a second yellow card for complaining about it.
© AAP
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