The Daily Bee: Eintracht Frankfurt Beat West Ham, Make the Europa League Final

Good morning, folks. Happy Friday!

It’s a very happy Friday, indeed. Yesterday was a huge day for the Bundesliga. Eintracht Frankfurt, an historic club founded in 1899, became the first German club other than Bayern Munich to reach a European final since Borussia Dortmund made it to the Champions League final in 2013, and the first German club in the Europa League (or equivalent) final since Werder Bremen made the final in 2009.

If Frankfurt win the Europa League, they will push themselves into the Champions League, which means there could be as many as eight German clubs in European competitions next season. The Bundesliga has underperformed in Europe over the last decade, so seeing a non-Bayern club go this far is a sign that the league might be rebounding from its stagnation of the 2010s.

To reach the final, Frankfurt just had to maintain a one-goal aggregate lead against West Ham United, who they defeated 2-1 at the London Stadium last week. West Ham made it easy for them when Aaron Cresswell was sent off before the 20 minute mark for a foul against Jens-Peter Hauge with the latter in on goal by himself. Ansgar Knauff assisted a Rafael Borré goal minutes later, and the party in Frankfurt was already in full swing.

Oh, and to make it even better, Leipzig bottled it against Rangers.

Footy Scran of the Day

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(types furiously)

Hmm... shit.