Looking at the huge amounts of cans and bottles littering the streets around Hackney Wick it seems some people might have been drinking all day for this one. Well, it is our biggest game in 46 years. Inside the London Stadium the flame throwers are in action, there are blue plastic flags on our seats and Nigel has his lucky Status Quo bag. Matt, Fraser, Michael, Alison, Scott and Steve the Cornish postie make up our contingent, while Lisa is watching in the Bat and Ball.
A big boost is the return of Zouma to the defence. Could we actually do it with Kurt back? After an emotional Bubbles it's the worst possible start. In the first minute Borre is given too much time to cross and Knauff gets behind Fornals to head home. How to silence the home crowd in one minute. Has the tension of the build-up been too much for some of the players? We should play the game and not the occasion suggests a sage Nigel.
The Eintracht fans are bouncing up and down and waving black and white flags in unison. They seem quite English in their fervour and are the noisiest away crew we have encountered in Europe so far.
But we know this side has resilience, the crowd stick with West Ham, and after a nervous ten minutes start to get some attacks going. Antonio holds it up then Soucek plays a good through ball to Jarrod Bowen. He looks certain to score but it nicks off Trapp's foot and on to the post.
ANTONIO! ANTONIO!
After 21 minutes the equaliser arrives. Lanzini's free kick is headed back across goal by Zouma and Antonio just gets a touch before Declan Rice to bundle the ball over the line as the decibel level ratchets up again. It's another assist to Mystic Matt who has just claimed that Antonio will never score for us. Goalkeeper Trapp is now hearing the sound of music, and it's I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.
Frankfurt look very good on the break though, with Kamada impressing. Another good move sees Knauff twist and turn in the box to fire just wide.
At half-time we retreat to the concourse where Nigel eats his lucky Euro banana and we remark it's a little too tense to be enjoyable. Frankfurt are the best team we have seen in Europe so far.
After looking more likely to win it in the first half the Hammers start slowly again, and Frankfurt's passing game makes inroads. Nine minutes into the half a slick move undoes the Hammers. Borre's through ball finds Sow drifting through the defence, his shot is parried by Areola but Kamada taps home the rebound. Cresswell is appealing for offside but Ben Johnson's boot is playing Kamada just onside.
HITTING THE BAR
The Irons keep going, with sub Benrahma doing well to find space and curl a shot against the the outside of the angle of post and bar. Frankfurt almost kill the tie off when Kamada bursts through to fire against the post. West Ham press but the Frankfurt defence remains calm under pressure. The key moment arrives in added time as Rice crosses and Bowen produces a brilliant overhead kick which hits the underside of the bar.
So it's a first-leg defeat. We head to the Refreshment Rooms and conclude it was a decent game and West Ham have done well to get this far with such a small squad. Matt takes some time to recover from the knowledge that Lisa has seen two spare programmes abandoned on the bar and not picked them up, before going into a Proustian reverie about loitering behind fans for dropped programmes and almost seeing Gretna Green play in a Scottish Cup semi-final.
Will it be another 46 years before West Ham are in another European semi-final, by which time we'll all be looking like Captain Tom and reminiscing about the time young Bowen hit the bar? West Ham are middling-ish suggests a deflated Nigel.
Eintracht are now favourites and their fans will be up for it. Two poor goals given away but some hope to be taken from the fact the Hammers hit the woodwork three times, though Frankfurt's counter-attacking looks ominous. Cue a very nervous night next Thursday.
PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 6; Johnson 6, Dawson 6, Zouma 6, Cresswell 6; Soucek 6, Rice 8, Lanzini 7 (Benrahma 6), Fornals 5; Bowen 7, Antonio 7.
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