Frankfurt Crowned Europa League Champions
19 May, 2022
Eintracht Frankfurt were crowned UEFA Europa League champions after defeating Rangers on penalties at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.
UEFA Europa League
Report: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Rangers (Frankfurt won 5-4 on penalties)
Date: 18 May 2022
Venue: Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán
The clash was played at a lively pace early on, with the first game's first chance falling to Frankfurt on 12 minutes when Djibril Sow forced Allan McGregor into action with an effort from distance.
Frankfurt enjoyed a good spell thereafter as Evan Ndicka headed wide from Filip Kostic's cross just moments after McGregor was called upon to keep out Ansgar Knauff's strike. Rangers, meanwhile, struggled to get going in the first half and were lucky not to have fallen behind when James Tavernier's poor header presented Kostic with an opening, but the Frankfurt star dragged his effort wide.
The Scottish giants had to wait until the 37th minute for a sight at the Frankfurt goal when John Lundstram did well to pick out Borna Barisic, who saw his header tipped over the crossbar by Kelvin Trapp.
For all of Frankfurt's domination, it was Rangers who got the breakthrough on 57 minutes when Joe Aribo skipped past one defender before calmly slotting past Trapp.
The Bundesliga side weren't behind for too long as the influential Kostic sent a cross to the near post where Rafael Borre got between two Rangers defenders to poke post McGregor.
Rangers coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst responded with a double change as Fashion Sakala and Sean replaced Scott Wright and Ryan Jack for the final 15 minutes of the second half.
Both sides were unable to find a winning goal in the latter stages of the second half, forcing the clash into another 30 minutes of extra-time.
Frankfurt looked the more energetic of the two sides in extra-time, although they were let down by their decision-making in the final third as Aaron Ramsey also made his way onto the park for Rangers just before the penalties.
The decision to bring on Ramsey on did not pay dividends as Bundesliga side secured a 5-4 victory in the shoot-out, with the man on loan from Juventus missing from the penalty spot.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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