Eagles soar into quarter-finals | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt progressed to the last eight of the UEFA Europa League in style, beating Ajax 4-1 in the second leg and 6-2 on aggregate.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller’s starting line-up showed no fewer than six changes from Sunday’s Bundesliga game at Union Berlin, although some were enforced. Kaua Santos deputised for the injured Kevin Trapp in goal and fit-again Robin Koch replaced the suspended Nnamdi Collins, while Ellyes Skhiri, Mario Götze, Ansgar Knauff and Hugo Ekitiké were recalled in place of Oscar Højlund (ineligible), Can Uzun, Farès Chaibi and Michy Batshuayi (bench). For Ajax, Jorthy Mokio was the only survivor from the first leg.

Flying start with first goal for Bahoya

Leading 2-1 in the tie, Eintracht immediately put their visitors under pressure and were rewarded with the opening goal after just seven minutes. Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was at the heart of it, playing one-twos with both Götze and Ekitiké before finishing off a flowing move to net his first goal for the club. The Eagles remained on the front foot and Bahoya almost returned the favour for Ekitiké, but he was put off by a defender. Ten minutes later, it was 2-0 when Koch’s long ball over the top found Götze, who brought it down with his chest before lifting the ball over goalkeeper Matheus. It was his first goal in the Europa League since September 2021, on his 25th appearance in the competition.

Eintracht took their foot off the pedal slightly after that – although Rasmus Kristensen’s powerful shot forced a good save from Matheus – and allowed Ajax to have more possession, but without creating any clear-cut chances. Santos showed good reactions to push behind two efforts from Steven Berghuis just before half-time to maintain the scoreline.

Ekitiké puts it beyond doubt

The early part of the second half was rather leisurely, with Eintracht controlling proceedings and Ajax seemingly running out of ideas and hope. The Dutch side made a triple substitution on 63 minutes but it made little difference. Instead, it was Eintracht who scored again when Bahoya threaded the ball through to his compatriot Ekitiké, who cut inside his man before curling it firmly into the far corner to the delight of the majority of the 57,500 crowd at Deutsche Bank Park.

The travelling supporters did at least have something to cheer in the 78th minute when substitute Kenneth Taylor pulled a goal back with a long-distance strike. But four minutes later, Götze restored the four-goal advantage. Matheus came a long way off his line to intercept a ball and gave it away to Knauff. He squared it to Götze and the World Cup winner found the empty net from not far inside the Ajax half. It was yet another beautiful goal that rounded off a brilliant night for the Eagles, who will now face AZ Alkmaar or Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-finals.