Barcelona 2-3 Eintracht Frankfurt: Barca Player Ratings as a night of beautiful goals ends in disappointment for the hosts | UEFA Europa League 2021-22
Eintracht Frankfurt secured a stunning 3-2 win against Barcelona at Camp Nou in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, April 14. The German side did well to appease their 30,000+ fans who had traveled to see the match and made their presence felt at Camp Nou.
Barca and Frankfurt played out a closely-contested 1-1 draw in the first leg in Germany last week. The German side took advantage, but Barcelona came roaring back after attacking substitutions galvanized them. Both teams came into today's game hoping they could topple each other after several positive takeaways from their previous meeting.
Eintracht Frankfurt made a bright start to the game and committed players forward, putting pressure on Barcelona.
Eric Garcia pulled Jesper Lindstrom to the ground and Eintracht were awarded a penalty in the 4th minute. Filip Kostic stepped up and coolly sent Marc-Andre ter Stegen the wrong way to make it 1-0 for the visitors.
Ousmane Dembele made a bright start and looked to bring his side back into the game with some silky footwork on the right flank. He was the subject of several hard tackles from the opposition and earned a few free kicks for Barcelona. However, with a lack of sufficient support from Pedri, Ferran Torres and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the hosts looked toothless in attack.
Eintracht further added to their misery in the 36th minute to make it 2-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. Rafael Borre Maury smashed the ball in from outside the box to stun the Camp Nou. Soon after, Ansgar Knauff, last week's goalscorer, came close when he got past Jordi Alba in the 44th minute, but failed to keep his shot on target.
Barcelona struggled for most of the first half and failed to gather any momentum to show otherwise. The sides went into the half-time break with Eintracht Frankfurt up 2-0.
IT'S TWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Barcelona failed to bring much to the table in the second half with Dembele the only shining light on their attack. Aubameyang missed a sitter midway through the second half as his night grew from bad to worse. Substitute Frenkie de Jong did add some fluency to Barca's attack but they were pegged back once more.
Kostic scored a wonderfully taken goal in the 67th minute to all but end Barcelona's chances of a comeback. Eintracht continued to move the ball swiftly and surely, with Borre Maury shooting one into the stars from a lovely cross by Lindstrom. He had another chance soon after and could not get a hold of the ball and sliced it wide to the right flank.
Despite Barcelona's substitutions, they could not find a way back into the game. Sergio Busquets popped up as a late-game threat and scored to make it 3-1, before the goal was ruled out for offside. However, soon after, Busquets was presented with another opportunity and he finished in style from outside the box.
Memphis Depay converted a late penalty that was awarded after Evan Ndicka was sent off for a second bookable offense. The defender will now miss the first leg of the semi-finals.
The game ended 3-2 for Eintracht Frankfurt, who qualified for the semis at the expense of Barcelona, who started the game as favorites. With that said, let's take a look at the player ratings from the game.
FRANKFURT HAVE DONE IT! BARCELONA ARE ELIMINATED FROM THE EUROPA LEAGUE 😱 https://t.co/Pc1Gnkk3Km
Note: All the statistical figures have been optained from Sofascore's coverage of the live event.
Barcelona Player Ratings
Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 5/10
The German was unlucky to face a penalty in just the fourth minute of the game. His bad luck compounded as Borre Maury smashed in a shot from where most goalkeepers wouldn't expect a player to shoot from. Conceded his third for the night when Kostic completed his brace with a well-struck shot in the 67th minute.
Oscar Mingueza - 6/10
Mingueza played 62 minutes of the game and was then subbed off. During his time on the field, he won three of his four duels, made two successful tackles and completed 43/46 of his passes. A decent performance overall.
Ronald Araujo - 6.5/10
Araujo made a composed start to the game but had to pay the price for his partner's error as Barcelona went 1-0 down. He was a bit lethargic in closing down Borre Maury, who smashed the ball into goal from around 30 yards to make it 2-0 for Eintracht. He won all seven duels he was involved in and played four accurate long balls in nine attempts.
Eric Garcia - 5/10
Committed a silly foul very early in the game and gave away a penalty from which Eintracht scored. Garcia was booked for the offense. He made three tackles and put in seven accurate long balls from nine attempts.
Jordi Alba - 5.5/10
Alba struggled against the tricky and pacey Knauff and was bullied by the youngster on multiple occasions. He won just three of his seven duels and was dispossesed 18 times.
Gavi - 6/10
He was brought in for Frenkie de Jong and played enthusiastically. However, his eagerness got the better of him and he was booked in the first half. He won seven of the 15 duels he was involved in.
Sergio Busquets - 7.5/10
The veteran midfielder was in the thick of proceedings once again. He had a late goal ruled out for offside but soon made up for it with a thunderous strike into the left side-netting to make it 3-1. He also won seven of his 12 duels and passed the ball with a 86% accuracy.
@btsportfootball Looks like this will count for very little, but it's some strike from Sergio Busquets! 🤤
Perfectly hit. 🤌
📹 @btsportfootball
https://t.co/68pkhRChlw
Pedri - 6/10
Pedri had a relatively quiet outing on the left side of Barcelona's midfield. He was subbed off at the half-time break after winning two of his two duels and making two tackles.
Ousmane Dembele - 8.5/10
Made a lively start on the right wing, dribbling past players with creativity and pace. He ended the night after successfully dribbling past opponents on nine out of ten occasions and winning 16 of the 23 duels he was involved in. He also earned seven free-kicks for his team.
Ferran Torres - 6/10
Torres made some good runs into dangerous positions but failed to threaten the goal with a shot or play an effective pass. He won six of 13 duels and completed three out of six successful dribbles.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 5.5/10
The Gabonese forward was off the pace soon after as the visitors went ahead. He missed a few sitters in the game which could have led to Barcelona fighting back. He had a quiet outing and was hooked off around the hour mark, having mustered a solitary shot on target.
Barcelona Substitutes
Frenkie de Jong - 7.5/10
He came on at half-time and added fluency to Barcelona's attack. De Jong completed the game with 92% passing accuracy, two out of two accurate long balls, four of four ground duels won and three successful dribble attempts.
Adama Traore - 6.5/10
Adama played for 29 minutes and passed the ball with an accuracy of 86%. He also completed three dribbles and won four out of seven ground duels.
Serginio Dest - 6/10
He came on as a substitute on the hour mark and put in a decent shift.
Luuk de Jong - 6/10
Earned a late penalty for his side, which his compatriot Depay tucked in.
Memphis Depay - 6/10
Scored a late penalty but it was too little, too late.