Silva helps Eagles stay on ‘Tracht
ANDRE SILVA scored twice as Eintracht Frankfurt reached the last 16 of the Europa League after a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Salzburg in a storm-delayed match.
The Germans, 4-1 winners at home, completed a 6-2 aggregate victory and will now play Swiss side Basel.
The Eagles were unable to weather an early deluge of Salzburg pressure as captain Andreas Ulmer inspired home hope as he thrashed beyond Kevin Trapp into the top corner in just 10 minutes.
But Silva headed in the equaliser on the half hour to deflate the home support.
The Austrians retook the lead in the 71st minute when defender Jerome Onguene nodded home from a corner.
But Portuguese striker Silva smashed into the top corner from the edge of the area with seven minutes left as they caught out Salzburg on the counter.
Frankfurt’s former Red Bull ace Stefan Ilsanker said: “Respect for Salzburg’s performance but also respect for our performance. We gave our all for over 90 minutes.”
In Spain, sixth-placed Real Sociedad boosted their hopes of landing a Europa League place next season with a 1-0 victory over Valladolid thanks to Adnan Januzaj.
In Germany, Hertha Berlin staged a stunning second-half comeback as they came from three goals down to earn a 3-3 draw with Dusseldorf.
Kenan Karaman broke the deadlock inside just six minutes with Erik Thommy adding the second three minutes later.
Karaman then added another before the break but Dusseldorf took their foot off the gas.
That allowed Hertha to battle back with an own goal from Thommy followed by a Matheus Cunha effort. Krzysztof Piatek then rescued the capital side from the spot.
In France, Dario Benedetto hit a hat-trick as Marseille saw off Nimes 3-2 in Ligue 1.
The Argentina helped bag the points after Zinedine Ferhat’s opener with Lucas Deaux pulling one back in injury-time.