Europa LeagueGiovanni van Bronckhorst failed to make history with Rangers. The Scottish club lost a thrilling Europa League final to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties. After 120 minutes it was 1-1 in Sevilla. As a result, Dick Advocaat remains the last Dutch trainer to win a European prize.
By Marijn Abbenhuijs
,,A lost final can hurt for a very long time”, emphasized Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the run-up to the Europa League final in an interview with this newspaper. He knows all about it. He lost the 2010 World Cup final to Spain as captain of the Dutch national team. But that pain did not make him live with fear for the final battle against Eintracht Frankfurt. “I have the feeling that a prize can be won.”
But that did not work out. And so the 47-year-old Rotterdammer will have to deal with a painful defeat, just like in 2010. Because the price at stake was quite one. In the 150-year anniversary of the Scottish club, a European prize could be won for the second time in its long history. The first, the European Cup II in 1972, was exactly half a century ago during the centenary. As if a new international success was written in the stars.
But Eintracht Frankfurt did not cooperate. Because it was the Germans who wrote history and not Van Bronckhorst’s team. It happened in a final that was clearly under high tension. Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt are clubs with a huge following and at the same time not exactly the usual suspects in a European final. And so all the blue-hearted residents of Scotland and all of Frankfurt am Main and environs seemed to have come to Seville. No fewer than 100,000 Scots and over 50,000 Germans had gathered in the charming Spanish football city.
Not all of them had a ticket for the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, which can accommodate more than 45,000 spectators. However, they had all contributed to the inflated expectations and the enormous desire for a gigantic pinnacle in the history of their clubs. Because Frankfurt has only won a European prize once before, the UEFA Cup in 1980.
So it was clear that the players of both teams knew very well how much they could do for their employers. That also underlined the atmosphere in the stadium. Half ‘weiss wie schnee’, half ‘light blue’, it was incessantly noisy in the home of FC Sevilla. But that didn’t unleash the footballers. The Europa League final was nervous and messy and both teams barely created any opportunities that were played out.
It was therefore not surprising that the opening goal came after a major defensive error. Frankfurt defender Lucas Tuta slipped away after an hour of play, after which Nigerian striker Joe Aribo of Rangers easily made the opening goal one on one with keeper Kevin Trapp. And ensured that Van Bronckhorst had the feeling that he was actually going to write history, although that did not last long. Because twelve minutes later it was already level, because Rafael Borré anticipated a sharp cross from former FC Groningen player Filip Kostic.
And after the exciting final phase produced no more goals and neither did the extension, it came to penalties. And Aaron Ramsey missed on behalf of the Scots, while all penalties from the Germans were flawlessly shot. As a result, Dick Advocaat, who won the Europa League with Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, remains the last Dutch trainer to win a European prize. As a result, the 100,000 Scots in Seville were left disillusioned and it was Eintracht Frankfurt that experienced the most historic evening in club history.
Watch Eintracht Frankfurt’s winning penalty.
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