EUROPA LEAGUE
QUARTER-FINAL (2nd LEG)
THURSDAY 17TH APRIL, 2025
(8PM - BST)
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 0(0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1(1)
(Spurs won 2-1 on aggregate)

Spurs scorer:-
Solanke, 43 (pen)

Attendance:- 57,500

Referee:- Davide Massa
Assistants:- Filippo Mel & Stefano Alassio
Fourth official:- Matteo Marcenaro
VAR:- Aleandro Di Paolo
Assistant VAR:-Daniele Chiffi
(All officials from Italy)

Teams:-
Eintracht (4-2-3-1):- 40. Santos; 13. Kristensen, 35. Tuta, 4. Koch (Capt.), 3. Theate; 15. Skhiri, 16. Larsson (sub 17. Wahi, 76); 19. Bahoya (sub 20. Uzun, 58), 27. Gotze (sub 8. Chaibi, 17), 21. Brown (sub 36. Knauff, 77); 11. Ekitike

Subs not used:- 33. Grahl, 42. Silijevic (GKs); 5. Amenda, 22. Chandler, 29. Nkounkou, 34. Collins; 18. Dahoud; 30 Batshuayi

Booked:- Santos (foul on Maddison), Kristensen (foul on Udogie), Theate (unsporting conduct)

Spurs (4-3-3):- 1. Vicario; 23. Pedro Porro, 17. Romero (Capt.), 37. Van de Ven, 13. Udogie; 15. Bergvall, 30. Bentancur, 10. Maddison (sub 21. Kulusevski, 45+1); 22. Johnson (sub 4. Danso, 85), 19. Solanke, 11. Tel (sub 29. Sarr, 79)

Subs not used:- 40. Austin, 41. Whiteman (GKs); 14. Gray, 24. Spence, 33. Davies; 8. Bissouma, 47. Moore; 9. Richarlison, 28. Odobert

Booked:- Johnson (foul on Brown), Bentancur (foul on Uzun), Romero (foul on Skhiri)

Battling Spurs win semi-final place

Thanks to Andy Park for this picture

Ange Postecoglou's second season trophy dream is on! Spurs gave their loyal travelling fans surely their best away performance of this European season in a game where the end to end style continued from last week's drawn first leg.

Spurs secured a first half lead through a Dominic Solanke penalty after James Maddison had been clattered by Frankfurt goalkeeper Kaua Santos. Fielding his first choice back five for only the second time since early December, "Big Ange's" men gave us a stalwart second half defensive performance to secure a semi-final place against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt, who beat Lazio in Rome in a penalty shoot-out.

There were so many excellent performances from our players last night. Romero and Van de Ven were strong at the back, and the defence was reinforced by powerful games by Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall. What was particularly refreshing from Spurs was almost a total absence of short passing at the back.

The only change to either side from last week's game was Spurs' absence of Son, who didn't travel due to a foot injury. Son's place was taken by Mathys Tel and Cristian Romero wore the captain's armband.

A full house of 57,500 was in attendance, most of whom were the fervent scarf-waving home fans. The match started in pouring rain. Spurs kicked off and played away from their fans.

Thanks to Eugene Gasper for this picture

Vicario comfortably held an early shot by Bahoya, and after a free kick and a corner for the home side, Vicario held again, this time from Gotze. There was a clash of heads between Solanke and former Leeds centre-back Robin Koch. The game was restarted with a dropped ball in Spurs' favour, but well behind the scene of the challenge.

It was evident that Spurs were playing probing passes into the Frankfurt half. It was almost as if our coach had been enlightened and adopted a new playing style. We didn't always win possession, but we did battle for the ball in midfield, winning our fair share of tackles.

Gotze was struggling with an apparent hamstring injury and had to be replaced early by Chaibi. Danger man Ekitike got into the box to chase a long clearance and after Van de Ven's excellent tackle, Vicario picked up. Udogie was active in attack and tried to find Solanke with a ball inside but was not quite accurate. Tel's shot after a Johnson pass was off target.

Brown crossed from the right at the other end and Vicario held Chaibi's header. Tel had our best effort of the game so far after taking a pass from Udogie before hitting a powerful right-footed shot which Santos saved with a flying dive to his top left corner.

Spurs had soaked up Frankfurt's early pressure and responded with some of their own, winning a corner on the left and seeing the ball cleared from Solanke's feet after Bentancur's pass. More pressure followed and Santos batted away Tel's cross after he had been fed by Maddison.

Romero lifted a long ball into the area and Maddison challenged for the ball before he was clattered by the goalkeeper. Italian referee Davide Massa wasn't even going to give the penalty and it was a long time before he was called to the monitor by VAR to change his decision. Tel picked up the ball, but Postecoglou indicated that Solanke should take the kick, which he did with aplomb, planting the ball low to the middle of the goal after the keeper had dived well to his right. It was Solanke's first goal in 12 games since January.

Maddison went off, holding his hip and was replaced by Kulusevski. Frankfurt won a corner after a poor pass by Bentancur to Bergvall. Johnson was booked for a foul on Brown. Tensions were high between the two camps at times and a member of the Frankfurt coaching staff was shown a red card.

The Spurs team huddled again before the home side kicked off the second half. Spurs had to deal with early pressure, and the referee's decisions went against us in various areas which didn't help. Substitute Chaibi had Vicario scrambling towards his right post with a long range free kick which passed just wide. Bergvall cleared from Ekitike and Udogie defended well in a running battle with Leeds loanee Rasmus Kristensen, whose signing will be made permanent in the summer. Kristensen was booked for a foul on Udogie and would have missed the semi-final first leg had Frankfurt succeeded.

Solanke led a Spurs break-out and after an exchange with Johnson, Kulusevski won a corner with a blocked shot. Pedro Porro took the kick and Romero's header was just wide of the far post.

Tuta tried a shot from distance at the other end but was well over the target. Spurs won another corner after a break led by Kulusevski. Pedro Porro took the kick after which Tel hit a shot wide. Another Spurs corner followed a good cross by Udogie for Johnson, which was intercepted by Koch. Bentancur headed this corner over the bar.

Now Spurs had to defend again. The home crowd and bench wanted a penalty for handball by Romero, but there had been no such offence. After a mistake in the Frankfurt half, Johnson teed up Solanke, but his effort was blocked.

Spurs were on the back foot for much of the remainder of the game, but they showed strength, determination, and skill in holding the home side at bay. There were one or two close calls, firstly after Kristensen's cross from the right was flicked goalward by Chaibi, but Vicario made his best save of the night.

Kristensen had the best of the remaining efforts with a shot across goal after 81 minutes passing just outside the far post. A shot by Uzun was blocked and Kristensen's effort was held by Vicario.

Kulusevski hit a shot wide at the other end but had been offside. Kevin Danso replaced Johnson, and now all Spurs hands were to the defensive pump with five across the back, and a wall of green shirts thwarting the home side in white.

The five minutes added time was extended due to Romero's head injury, and the Spurs captain also took a late booking for clattering Skhiri in midfield.

It was all smiles at the end though and Spurs could celebrate a massive win in front of their exuberant fans. It's a long time since we've experienced joy on this level, and to be honest, it was refreshing to see Ange Postecoglou embracing his coaching staff and players and being able to celebrate with the crowd.

Thanks to Stuart Gibson for this picture

This was of course a massive win for the club, who on the one hand could finish in their lowest-ever Premier League position, but who on the other hand are three games away from winning the Europa League and a place in next season's Champions' League!

We will be at home in the first leg of the semi-final against Bodo/Glimt in two weeks' time on May 1st.

Follow @spursodyssey

. Squad numbers,appearances,bookings & goalscorers
. Read the preview for this game.
. All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats