Heartbreak for Rangers as Eintracht win penalty shootout

Eintracht Frankfurt triumphed in a hard-fought Europa League final at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán with a 5-4 penalty shootout victory with the ties level after 120 minutes.

Action: The game got off to a bloody start when John Lundstram caught Sebastian Rode with a high boot as the German bent down to head the ball. The referee didn’t give anything more than a foul, with the contact accident and VAR decided not to intervene. For Rode, it was a few minutes of clean up and bandage needed before getting back into the game. 

Neither side really got into their stride in the first half, with the Germans the better of two teams – just about. Ansgar Knauff forced a solid stop out of Allan McGregor after about 20 minutes while Filip Kostic looked lively whenever he got on the ball.

There were moments for Rangers though. Joe Aribo sent a curling effort just wide past Kevin Trapp’s right post while John Lundstram also had a header saved from a set-piece.

Yet in the first half, neither team had a clear-cut chance – fortunately, the second half provided more.

Eintracht started the season period well, Jesper Lindstrom having a deflected effort that just went past McGregor’s post. 

Seven minutes into the second half, the German team wanted a penalty after Santos Borré went down after a challenge from Connor Goldson. Although the Rangers man did make some contact, Borré’s theatrics probably didn’t help his own case.

©Getty / BSR Agency

Brazilian defender Tuta lost his footing trying to recover a ball, allowing Joe Aribo to take advantage, run forward with the ball, and cooly put it away just past the reach of Trapp. The former Charlton Athletic man did well to keep his composure when and finish well. 

The mistake was the end of the game for Tuta, who picked up an injury while slipping, leading to the veteran Makoto Hasebe, in his penultimate season of his career, to take his place in the Eintracht defence. 

Oliver Glasner’s team responded well to the set back though. Daichi Kamada almost lobbed McGregor after the Rangers defence lost the ball just outside of their own box. 

That Rangers defence can certainly shoulder the blame for the equaliser. Kostic found it far too easy to get a low cross into the box, allowing Borré to lose his marker Goldson and poke the ball home from close range in the 69th minute.

That goal seemed to throw Rangers off their game with the Bundesliga team ending the game the brighter of the two. However, neither side could be separated in Seville after 90 minutes.

Extra-time: Calvin Bassey almost made a similar mistake to Tuta not long in extra time when he lost control of a ball and allowed Borré in behind the defence with plenty of space to run into. However, the 22-year old did brilliant well to catch up with the Colombian and make an excellent recovering tackle.

But it was clear that both sides were tiring as the game carried on and despite it being close to midnight in Spain, the Andalusian heat was still playing a part.

In the second half of extra-time, Rangers had two good chances that were stopped by Kevin Trapp. The first came from a quick counterattack that Ryan Kent looked like he was going to finish from close range but the big German did well to get in the way of it.

Then in the 120th minute, Trapp was needed to stop a whipped in free-kick effort from Marcus Tavernier – who with this result finishes the Europa League top scorer – from what would have certainly been the winning goal.

©Getty /

Tavernier got things going for Rangers, putting away his spot-kick like he has done many times this season. Lenz, Davies, Hrustic, Arfield, and Kamada all scored theirs to make it 3-3 with all six converted.

Then it was the substitute Aaron Ramsey’s moment, but the Welsh international went down the middle and Trapp’s long, outstretched leg denied the former Arsenal man. Kostic squeezed the following penalty into the corner, just beyond the outstretched reach of McGregor to make it advantage Eintracht.

Roofe had no problem with his penalty, so it was Borré who had the chance to win the final for his team. The Colombian smashed his penalty into the top corner emphatically to make Eintracht Frankfurt the 2022 Europa League winners.

Man of the Match: It was difficult to pick out one outstanding player on the pitch with good performances from both sides and players tiring quick. But Marcus Tavernier, who has been fantastic in Europe all season, had a fine game for his team tonight and almost won it at the death. He looked supremely confident from his penalty too, sending Trapp the wrong way.

Congratulations Frankfurt, 2021/22 Europa League champions! 👏🏆#UELfinal pic.twitter.com/ZiZUfkRUs3

— #UELfinal (@EuropaLeague) May 18, 2022