Barcelona, April 15 (BNA) Eintracht Frankfurt scored a big surprise when it surprised its guest Barcelona 3-2 on Thursday thanks to two goals from winger Philip Kostik to reach the semi-finals of the European League.
Serbia international Kostik scored a penalty in the fourth minute and added another in the 67th minute with a low shot after Rafael Borre scored his second goal in the 36th minute to score a 4-3 aggregate victory and a stunning victory at the Camp Nou.
Reuters said that the Catalans, the favorites ahead of the match after the 1-1 draw in Germany last week, missed two chances with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but they were much less dangerous than his opponent, who could have added to his tally.
They scored two goals in stoppage time through a Sergio Busquets shot and a penalty kick for Memphis Depay after Ivan Ndika of Frankfurt was sent off but time ran out to score the third goal that would have had to overtime.
“I am speechless,” said Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. “No one expects this, frankly. Everyone expects us to suffer here.
“We needed to take our chances and today we were very effective. We reached the semi-finals and we want to go as far as possible. We showed that we don’t have to hide from anyone, but there is no doubt, now we want to reach the final.”
Eintracht, who last reached the semi-finals in 2019 and are unbeaten away this season in the Europa League, will face West Ham, the 4-1 aggregate winner over Lyon.
Oliver Glasner’s side, currently ninth in the Bundesliga, got off to a perfect start when Eric Garcia knocked Jesper Lindstrom off four minutes into the match and Kostik quietly sent Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the wrong direction.
Despite Barcelona’s dominance, the guests were more efficient and scored again with the 25-meter Bury missile that left Ter Stegen defeated.
Aubameyang should have done better three minutes into the second half when he failed to connect with Ousmane Dembele’s reduction in front of goal.
Ter Stegen then held them in the match when he stopped a shot from Lindstrom in the 58th minute but couldn’t do anything when the unmarked Kostikie found himself too much space on the left and slashed a shot past the goalkeeper.
“What we did today was not enough, despite the heroic attempt in the end,” Barcelona coach Xavi said. “It’s very frustrating… We didn’t play well. We had control and possession, but we couldn’t find anywhere to hurt them.”
Barcelona’s two stoppage-time goals came too late for a team that had almost 70% but fewer (10) attempts on goal for their opponent (16).
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