West Ham 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt: Hammers’ Europa League campaign hangs in balance after first-leg defeat
West Ham’s chances of reaching a first European final for 46 years hang in the balance after they lost 2-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg at the London Stadium.
Eintracht Frankfurt wing-back Ansgar Knauff headed the visitors in front after 50 seconds, but Michail Antonio’s close-range finish (21) brought West Ham level.
The German side – who sit ninth in the Bundesliga – regained the lead in the second half through Daichi Kamada (54) to secure just their second win in nine games and extend their unbeaten run in the competition to 10 games.
The two sides will meet for the second leg in Frankfurt next Thursday, with the winner playing either RB Leipzig or Rangers in the final on May 18 in Seville.
How Frankfurt overcame the Hammers
It was a nightmare start for West Ham at the London Stadium as Knauff headed in Rafael Borre’s cross at the back post after some slack defending by Pablo Fornals to give Frankfurt the lead inside the first minute.
Jarrod Bowen was presented with a gilt-edged opportunity to bring West Ham level after 14 minutes, but struck the post after being played through on goal by Tomas Soucek.
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West Ham, though, did not have to wait long for another opportunity as Kurt Zouma nodded down a free-kick to Antonio, who poked the ball home to level the tie to the delight of an electric home crowd.
It ended a run of 10 games without a goal for the striker, who last scored in West Ham’s 3-1 defeat at Southampton in the FA Cup on March 2.
Frankfurt continued to pose a threat on the break and nearly went ahead through Knauff again, only for the Frankfurt wing-back to rush his finish and fire over from inside the area after a half clearance by Aaron Cresswell.
Knauff, on loan from Borussia Dortmund, was given plenty of licence to get forward and caused West Ham a lot of problems as Frankfurt overloaded the home side’s left-hand side.
“It’s not the first time Knauff has scored from the far post,” Frankfurt head coach Oliver Glasner said after the game. “We wanted these runs and we also knew West Ham are sometimes a bit passive around their box.”
West Ham were slow out of the blocks after the break – as they were at the start – and were made to pay by Frankfurt, who sit ninth in the Bundesliga, after a neat passage of play which saw Kamada sweep in the rebound after a fine Alphonse Areola save to deny Djibril Sow from close-range.
Substitute Said Benrahma almost made an instant impact as his long-range effort brushed an upright, but he was less impressive 15 minutes later as he fired high and wide from inside the area.
A vital block from Craig Dawson ensured Kamada’s effort struck the post – denying him his second – and prevented Frankfurt from going two goals ahead, and making next week’s task that much harder.
But the home side came close to a second, late equaliser, Bowen’s sensational bicycle kick striking the crossbar and cannoning out.
