West Ham

West Ham face a mountain to climb in Germany after Eintracht Frankfurt beat them 2-1 at the London Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League ...

West Ham had it all to do by the end. It was uncomfortable for West Ham. Eintracht simply had more to them. In the end the only consolation for West Ham was that they are still in the tie. The visitors were backed by a large travelling contingent and, more importantly, were not short of confidence on the pitch. This was their side’s first European semi-final since 1976 – through a strange quirk of fate, that was also against Frankfurt – and it was not a surprise to find the ground packed long before kick-off, the hairs on the back of the neck standing to attention when the home fans launched into a rousing rendition of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles a the teams emerged. Eintracht Frankfurt were superior for long spells and, as David Moyes picks through a messy performance from his team, he will feel relieved that West Ham will have a chance of reaching the Europa League final when they travel to Germany next week.

Goals from Ansgar Knauff and Daichi Kamada secured a 2-1 win for Eintracht Frankfurt over West Ham at the London Stadium.

Brought down a long ball with ease but then wasted the subsequent shot with Antonio at the back post. Was eventually taken off for Benrahma with West Ham trailing the game 2-1. Was let down for the second goal by his defence but made a fantastic save to initially deny Sow.

It should have been a historic night in London. Instead, West Ham ceded advantage to a Eintracht Frankfurt side that again made its presence felt.

West Ham can avoid that fate in the second leg next week in Germany, but they have to cope with the occasion better than they did here. Instead of this being a famous night in West Ham's modern-day history, they have the ignominious honour of becoming just the third side to lose a Europa League semifinal first leg at home. "I don't know if it is the level -- the level of the games go up and maybe we don't quite have the quality at times required to be at this level," Moyes said. There was a lack of intensity in their defending, while going forward they never hit the exhilarating heights that have got them into this position. Moyes made six changes in West Ham's previous outing at Chelsea in an effort to keep preserve energy levels for this but they still rallied far too late in the piece. After almost 15 minutes of stabilising themselves in front of a capacity crowd fearing the worst, West Ham did improve.