Eintracht Frankfurt lifts the Europa League crown

German football takes the glory of the second most important club level tournament in Europe. Eintracht Frankfurt defeated through penalties, by a score of 5-4 after a tie to one that lasted until extra time, when Scottish Rangers F.C. to win the 2022 Europa League title, marking their first international trophy in 42 years.

The Frankfurt eagles won the title after a tough match, held in Seville, Spain, which had to be extended to penalties and after overcoming an adverse score, as Rangers FC He went ahead at minute 57 with a goal from Joe Aribo, which was equalized at 69′ by Rafael Santos Borré. Although there were some more warnings of danger for both goals, the match was closed until the end of extra time and the final decision had to come from the 11 steps.

After both teams scored their first three penalties, it was on the fourth kick that the experienced midfielder failed. Aaron Ramsey, a former Arsenal and Juventus player, so that Rangers FC remained stagnant. Credit also went to former PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp for saving Ramsey’s shot.

Filip Kostic and himself Rafael Santos Borre they scored the last two penalties and thus gave Eintracht the title, despite Kemar Roofe scoring the fourth goal for Rangers, but not enough to finish 5-4.

This is the third international star for the German team after having won the extinct Intertoto Cup in 1967 and the Europa Leaguein its former format called UEFA Cupin 1980. Thanks to this championship, Frankfurt qualified directly for the 2022-23 Champions League, a tournament it has not attended since the 1959-60 season, when it was runner-up against Real Madrid.

Also with the title of 2022, the Eintracht Frankfurt ties Borussia Monchengladbach as the German teams with the most UEFA Cup or Europa League crowns with two each, although other Teutonic teams that have won this tournament are Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04, with one each.

On the other hand, Scottish football will maintain its title drought in the UEFA Cup or Europa League, with Dundee United runner-up in 1987, Celtic Glasgow in 2003 and Rangers FC in 2008 and 2022. Although Scotland has a Champions League title League thanks to Celtic in 1967, they have failed to win once in the second most important club tournament on continental level.

As for the prizes distributed at the end of this tournament, the Eintracht Frankfurt was left with 9.24 million euros as monarch of the tournament, while Rangers FC he pocketed 4.9 million for having finished as runner-up.

The Europa League was the only way for the Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the Champions League the following year, since in the local tournament in Germany they finished the 2021-22 season in eleventh position with only 42 out of 102 possible points, even below teams with a lower squad value such as Mainz 05 or Berlin Union.

Already in the continental tournament they beat Olympiakos from Greece, Fenerbahce from Turkey and Antwerp from Belgium in the group phase, while in the direct elimination rounds they stood out by eliminating Betis, Barcelona, ​​West Ham and Rangers in the final. The victory against Barca was one of those that attracted the most attention in all of Europe because it was consolidated with a 3-2 win at the Camp Nou stadium, in front of an invasion of German fans.

Furthermore, the eagles Frankfurt they clinched the title without a single loss during their clashes against all those rivals. In this way, they emulate the perfect path of Chelsea in the 2018-19 season and Villarreal in 2020-21, since they also lifted the trophy with an undefeated journey.

Within the winning squad Eintracht Frankfurt There are national team figures such as the Germans Kevin Trapp, Sebastian Rode and Erik Durm, as well as the Austrian Stefan Ilsanker, the Colombian Rafael Santos Borré, the Japanese Makoto Hasebe and Daichi Kamada, as well as the Serbian Filip Kostic and the American Timothy Chandler.

The coach is the Austrian Oliver Glasner, who becomes the first technical director of that nationality to lift a European continental trophy since Ernst Happel did it in 1983 with Hamburg in the old format of the Champions League.

In recent years, two Mexican soccer players participated in the Eintracht Frankfurt and they were starters: defender Carlos Salcedo and midfielder Marco Fabián, who achieved a German Cup title in the 2017-18 season. Previously, another national representative was in said club, defender Aarón Galindo, in the 2007-08 season.

kg