Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt reach the Europa League final

(Football news) Eintracht Frankfurt beat 10 man West Ham 1-0 in the second leg to reach their first European final in 42 years as they won the tie 3-1 on aggregate. In front of a 48,000 crowd, Rafael Borre drilled in the winner for Frankfurt in the 26th minute, beating the Hammers for a second time in a row following their 2-1 triumph in the first leg last week. West Ham played most of the game with 10 men after left back Aaron Cresswell was dismissed for a foul on Jens Petter Hauge in the 17th minute who was in on goal before getting fouled. David Moyes was also sent off in the 79th minute for angrily kicking the ball in frustration and it put an end to West Ham's European run this season.

The Germans, who last reached a European final 42 years ago in 1980, will face Rangers on May 18. Things did not start well for Frankfurt as Austrian defender Martin Hinteregger was taken off only eight minutes with a hamstring injury but the red card to Creswell opened up a lot of spaces down the wing and Ansgar Knauff made full utilisation of it, he charged through and delivered a perfect ball for Borre to score his second goal in this tie.West Ham hardly got a clear cut chance in the match but their best chance came just before half-time when Kurt Zouma's effort was cleared off the line. In the second half Frankfurt asserted their dominance as West Ham couldn’t get a foothold in the game. Moyes reached his boiling point when he kicked the ball at a ball boy who he thought was trying to waste time.

"Really disappointed," Moyes said. "Things didn't go for us tonight. I am really proud of the players — how they played with 10 men was fantastic. Other teams would have folded and lost 2-0 or 3-0.

"I felt this was a chance. I think we've played better teams than Frankfurt. If we're honest, we probably lost the tie in the first few seconds at the London Stadium."

"A dream has finally come true," Eintracht president Peter Fischer said, surrounded by ecstatic fans who stormed the pitch on the final whistle. "The team did it really well. This city and this environment deserved it. That's football and now we will win this thing."

Rangers managed an unbelievable comeback against the in-form RB Leipzig as they won 3-1 at Ibrox park and now moved to their first European final for the first time since 2008. Captain Tavernier opened the scoring in the 18th minute, and in the process he became Europa League's top scorer this season with his seventh goal, before Kamara's long-range effort six minutes later extended the lead as the Scottish crowd in Glasgow went wild. Leipzig, who won the first leg 1-0, did well to silence the crowd when they hit back through in-form Christopher Nkunku who received an inch perfect cross from Angelino to score in the 70th minute. Rangers kept piling on the pressure and eventually claimed the vital goal when a defensive mix-up after a corner allowed Lundstram to sweep the ball home into the net, sending the Rangers fans into ecstasy.

"It's unbelievable. Towards the end Lunny [John Lundstram] came up with the goods. A European final, it's what you dream of," Tavernier said.

"We'll go there [final] full of confidence. Frankfurt got there for a reason, but it's one game and we'll fully back ourselves. We're in this to win it. We want to make all the fans proud.

Also read: AS Roma reach the Conference League final with win over Leicester
 

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