The power of the Blue Posts in Green Park is invoked for this one, as we saw West Ham win 3-0 at Lyon there. Nigel has his lucky Status Quo carrier bag, Michael and his pal Nick have a lucky pink flamingo bottle holder, while Lisa has her lucky half of Level Head.
The atmosphere in Frankfurt is certainly intimidating with the home fans bouncing and letting off flares while waving great big black and white flags.
West Ham start quite well forcing an early corner. But the tie is effectively over after 15 minutes when a quick through ball sees Cresswell out of position and exposed in a one-on-one. Aaron panics and puts his arms around Hauge, allowing him to go down. After an initial yellow card VAR gets involved and it's turned into a red. It's Cresswell's second red card in the Europa and he just can't keep giving referees decisions to make. Better to concede a goal than go down to ten men.
Ben Johnson replaces Lanzini to play at left-back, but while Ben is still feeling his way into the game an attack comes down his flank. With Johnson and Zouma drawn to the ball Knauff's low cross finds Borre, who has got behind Dawson, who strokes home.
It's game over effectively and we all expect the wurst, but at least the ten-man Hammers play with spirit. Shortly before the break Zouma chests Bowen's free kick towards goal but it's cleared off the line.
Frankfurt look rather nervous as the prospect of their first European final since 1980 comes closer. Antonio runs his heart out up front and does well to spin and cross for Dawson to head at the keeper. Another dangerous Antonio cross is parried by Trapp but falls for a defender to clear.
It's all over and the Eintracht fans pour on to the pitch. The club is not dissimilar to West Ham, a big team with good supporters deprived of success, so congratulations to them. We lost it in the first minute of the first leg really.
At least we don't have to look at train and plane timetables to Sevilla and wonder if there would be any chance at all of getting a ticket for the final against Rangers. As William Makepeace Thackeray once commented: "Ah! Vanitas vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire, or having it is satisfied?"
Still, no-one expected West Ham to get this far so the semi-final is a big achievement. Though had we strengthened in January it might have been so much better. Now the lads have to raise themselves for a tricky game at relegated Norwich. Let's win our final three games and get another tilt at Europe. It can still be a really memorable season. Come on you Irons!
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