German press react to West Ham 2-1 loss v Eintracht Frankfurt
West Ham suffered a 2-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of the semi-final clash of the Europa League on Thursday at the London Stadium.
The home side created several great opportunities to score but they were really unlucky with their efforts.
Despite the defeat, the Hammers are pretty confident that they can salvage the tie in the return leg, especially with the away goal rule now scrapped.
German newspaper Bild (28 April) praised Frankfurt with the headline “Now the final is so close.” Another German newspaper Leipziger Volksdeitung has claimed that the Hammers have suffered a “shock” defeat.
Massive second leg
It has to be said that Frankfurt deserve this first-leg advantage but the Hammers will be disappointed with the chances they have missed.
Jarrod Bowen came close to snatching a draw in the dying minutes of the game, but his effort bounced down off the crossbar.
It took hardly a minute for the visitors to open to scoring and it stunned everyone. The Hammers regrouped and found the equaliser through Michail Antonio who scored his 11th goal of the season.
Said Benrahma also came close to scoring. The Hammers won away from home against Lyon in the previous round, and they will hope to produce another similar performance when they travel to Frankfurt next month.
The visitors looked dangerous on the counter-attack, and David Moyes will have to be cautious in the second leg, although the tie is far from over.
Kurt Zouma made a surprise recovery from an ankle injury and he was drafted into the side, but he had a very poor game.
In other West Ham news, a BBC pundit has slammed Moyes’ harsh criticism of one key West Ham man.
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