Eintracht Frankfurt winger Ansgar Knauff scored in the first minute. They defeated West Ham United 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday (April 28), with both teams attempting to reach their first European final in more than 40 years.
After two games, West Ham won the two-leg tie to reach the 1976 Cup Winners’ Cup final. This is the first time the teams have met in a semi-final European competition.
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There were 60,000 people in attendance at the London Stadium for the match. Rafael Borre set up Knauff with a cross from the corner of the box. The 20-year-old then headed home, shutting down David Moyes and his team. They didn’t want to waste Eintracht’s chance in the last four after knocking out Barcelona in the quarterfinals.
My question is: “I don’t know if I’m doing anything unique.” Then, “But against Barcelona, we put them under pressure right from the start.”
Jarrod Bowen had a great chance to level the score in the 14th minute, but his shot hit the right post. West Ham had a lot of chances to get back into the game. In the 21st minute, Kurt Zouma connected with a free-kick and set up Michail Antonio, who scored from close range to make it 1-1.
In this case, Antonio said, “Today wasn’t one of our best days.” Not how we planned to start the game. We took over the game and made some changes that we didn’t take. It’s up to you. It isn’t over. We want to win.
Before halftime, Knauff had a chance to give Eintracht the lead again, but his shot from inside the box went well wide of the right post. But Eintracht took the lead back in the 54th. West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola made a save on a shot by Djibril Sow, but he didn’t make a save on the next shot by Daichi Kamada.
His shot from close range hit the post in the 79th minute. This was his fifth goal in the Europa League this season. “Of course, the early goal helped us. But, Knauff said, “Their goal did not down us. We were able to get back up well.”
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp said: “I’m not surprised by how well we did.” We can do this if we are entirely focused, and we have done this many times. This is what we can do. Tonight was another one of our favourite times. It was our goal to start the process of getting to the end.
West Ham, who beat Olympique Lyonnais to reach the semi-finals, kept looking for an equaliser, but Bowen’s bicycle kick from close to the penalty spot hit the bar in the last minute. RB Leipzig beat Rangers 1-0 in the other semi-final. The second-leg games will be played on May 5, and both games will be played on May 5.
