Eintracht hand Barca a shock exit, West Ham make the EL semifinals

(Football news) Barcelona were handed a massive shock in the quest for a trophy this year as they lost 3-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt at the Camp Nou. The result saw the Bundesliga side advance to the semifinals on a 4-3 aggregate win, while Barca's hopes of getting a European trophy in 2021-22 were ended. The visitors got off to a dream start when Eric Garcia brought down Jesper Lindstrom in the penalty box as Kostic calmly beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen from the spot to give Frankfurt an early lead in the third minute. Xavi’s side settled quickly after conceding and tried to assert their dominance in the match, with Ousmane Dembele setting up Aubameyang for a header which went over the crossbar and Ronald Araujo volleyed his shot straight at Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp a few minutes later.

Despite Barca's pressure, Eintracht Frankfurt played on the counter attack and scored again to double their lead, this time courtesy of Rafael Borre's absolute peach of a strike from distance that blistered past Ter Stegen in the goal. Xavi brought on Adama Traore and substituted Sergino Dest in hopes of getting some attacking football but Kostic scored his second of the night with a low shot past Ter Stegen in the 67th minute to put the game to bed. Sergio Busquets scored for Barca scored late into stoppage time and Memphis Depay added one from the spot but ultimately the deficit was a lot to recover from.

"I am speechless," Trapp said after the match. "Nobody expected this, to be honest. Everyone expected us to suffer here.We needed to take our chances and today we were very efficient. We are in the last four 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."

"What we did was insufficient today despite the heroic attempt in the end," Xavi said. "It is very disappointing. We did not play well. We had control and possession, but found no spaces to hurt them."

West Ham qualified for their first European semi finals since 1976 as they thrashed Lyon 3-0 to secure a 4-1 aggregate victory in the Europa League quarter final. The London club last won a continental trophy when they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. West Ham overpowered their French opponents and goals by Craig Dawson, Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen and set up a historical repeat of their 1976 semifinal against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had then knocked out Barcelona as well. After a 1-1 draw at home, West Ham soaked up early pressure, before hitting back in ruthless fashion to take a 2-0 lead at halftime. Bowen then went on to add a third goal soon after halftime to virtually settle the game.

Lyon's hopes were all but over three minutes into the second half after manager Peter Bosz had sent on Tete and Lucas Paqueta to give the team some attacking impetus but ultimately failed to do it and this was only Lyon's third home defeat in the competition in 24 games. A modest 10th in the Ligue 1 standings, Lyon have little left to play for this season and their fans vented their frustration as a security cordon was deployed late in the match because of violent conduct from the fans.
"It feels special. Very, very special. We knew it was a tough place to come, we knew they had top individual quality. But we knew we could score goals tonight," Rice said.

"It's such a great night. If you can't get up for these games, you shouldn't be playing football. We want to reach the final, and will give it everything."

"We played well in London and we started well today with some great chances. But that's European football. When you lose, you're out," Bosz said.

"I understand the fans' frustration but you don't destroy your stadium, you can't do that"

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