Amid deafening noise and blistering heat of 31C (88F) on Wednesday, Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Glasgow Rangers 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in dramatic fashion to clinch the fairytale Uefa Europa League title at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. The German soccer club won the Europa League final after holding their nerve to defeat Rangers 5-4 in a clinical penalty shootout, claiming their first European trophy in 42 years. Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved an Aaron Ramsey spot-kick Ranger’s fourth as the German football side was impeccable with their finishing on Wednesday, scoring all five goals after the Europa League final finished 1-1 after 120 minutes.
After Kevin Trapp saved his own, Rafael Borre converted the decisive penalty, giving Eintracht Frankfurts their first European trophy since the 1980 Uefa Cup, a precursor to the Europa League. Rafael Borre was the hero of the evening, having already cancelled out Jo Aribos’s opening goal for Rangers, as Eintracht Frankfurt won their first European trophy since 1980 and booked a spot in the group stages of next season’s Champions League. It came down to Rafael Borre to decide the Europa League final, and the Colombian and his teammates kept calm to spark the celebrations of thousands of Germans at the stadium. A nervy end to average time precludes an even more nerve-wracking extra-time period; Colombian Borre came close to scoring in the opening moments after slipping a ball from Kelvin Bassey. Still, Rangers defenders recovered brilliantly to prevent the Colombian from scoring a second in a thrilling victory.
There were precious few chances in the closing minutes, but the game became stretched out into overtime. Rangers, however, came closest to winning the contest, in the dying minutes, with substitute Kemar Roofe flicking the ball into the box for Kent, whose low shot was brilliantly blocked by Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. Frankfurt keeper Trapp was then brought on to tip in John Lundstrams header, with Rangers ending the half looking even more assured. However, minutes later, Rangers took an edge: Brazilian defender Tuta went down trying to get a hold of a lousy header backwards by Djibril Sows, leaving Joaribo free to run infield and comfortably slip the ball past Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. That allowed Joe Aribo to speed past Brazilian defender Tuta of Frankfurt to open the scoring in Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium, thumping his low shot calmly past Kevin Trapp.
The Germans fought back, with Raphael Borre sliding in between two defenders to head home Filip Kostic’s cross in the 70th. The pressure eventually paid off in the 69th when Raphael Santos Borre got in between the two Rangers central defenders and latched onto a Kostic cross to slot home. There was one nerve-wracking moment for Rangers at the start of the second half as VAR ran an inspection on the potential penalty, as Borre went down after being challenged by Connor Goldson.
