Eintracht cash in as Hammers see red

Frankfurt – Eintracht Frankfurt reached their first European final for 42 years after a 1-0 home win on Thursday over 10-man West Ham sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory in their Europa League semifinal.

West Ham had left-back Aaron Cresswell sent off early on and Hammers manager David Moyes was also dismissed from the sidelines with 12 minutes left for kicking a ball at a ball boy.

“Really disappointed. Things didn’t go for us on the night,” Moyes told BT Sport.

“Small things didn’t happen but I am really proud of the players.

“How they played with 10 men was fantastic. They stayed in it.”

Colombia striker Rafael Borre (right) netted the first-half winner on the night to book Frankfurt a place in the Europa League final on 18 May in Seville against Scottish giants Rangers.

They are also now just one win away from qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since losing the 1960 European Cup final to Real Madrid.

“A dream has finally comes true,” said Eintracht club president Peter Fischer.

“This city deserves it. And now we’re going to win this thing.”

West Ham missed out on reaching their first major European final since 1976.

“We just played a team that played a similar way to us and it caught us out. We’re gutted,” said Hammers captain Declan Rice.

Borre scored just after Cresswell was sent off, leaving the visitors a man down for more than an hour and needing to score twice to force extra-time.

Frankfurt had been dealt an early blow when key defender Martin Hinteregger limped off with a leg injury.

When a long ball put Frankfurt’s Jens Hauge into space, Cresswell pulled back the Norwegian, who went down just outside the area.

Cresswell was initially only booked, but red-carded after a VAR review. –