With a 3-2 second-leg victory over Barcelona at Camp Nou on Thursday, Eintracht Frankfurt advanced to the Europa League semi-finals for the first time.
Last week, the two sides drew 1-1 in Germany, and any hopes Xavi’s men had of sweeping aside their opponents on home soil were dashed in the fourth minute when Filip Kostic struck from the penalty spot.
Further goals from Rafael Borre and Kostic made the scoreline look improbable, before a magnificent Sergio Busquets strike and a Memphis Depay penalty cut the lead in stoppage time.
Frankfurt, though, had done enough to earn a famous 4-3 aggregate victory, and Oliver Glasner’s side will now meet West Ham in the quarterfinals after they defeated Lyon.
Barca got off to a poor start, falling down in the fourth minute when Kostic scored from the penalty spot after Eric Garcia had pulled down Jesper Lindstrom in the area.
Borre’s magnificent 25-yard shot, which zipped past Marc-Andre ter Stegen and into the roof of the net, put them down 2-0 in the 36th minute.
Soon after, Frankfurt’s Ansgar Knauff fizzed a drive narrowly past Ter Stegen’s crossbar, threatening to put the tie out of Barca’s reach before the break.
In the 67th minute, Kostic hammered across Ter Stegen for his second goal of the game, sending Frankfurt fans into a trance.
When having an effort called out by VAR for offside, Busquets scored from beyond the penalty area in stoppage time, then Depay scored from the spot with nearly the last kick of the game after Evan Ndicka collided with Luuk de Jong.
Source: livescore news
