EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL: RANGERS F.C. VS EINTRACHT FRANKFURT

UEFA / Soccer

Written by Aaron Cantin

The match we have been waiting for! Frankfurt versus Rangers! Just kidding. In all honesty, I have not been as excited for a Europa League final as I am for this one in years. The Europa league is the butt-end of many jokes, particularly of fan bases from clubs who have found their way here through failure. But not this year. This year we can expect two passionate fan bases who have not been in the spotlight of European competition for decades and this is exactly what the Europa League is meant for.

Source (Background Photo): UEFA

For those who don’t know, the third-place finishers in each Champions League group who fail to advance to the knockout stage are “demoted” into the knockout stage of the Europa League. I’m not against this idea. This is meant for clubs like Dynamo Zagreb, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Malmo - clubs who will consistently qualify for the Champions League through their domestic leagues but have seemingly no chance of success in the Champions League. However, this also results in some of the top clubs in world football who have stumbled in the Champions League and find themselves travelling Europe on Thursdays to stadiums they have never played before. This year Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund fit that bill.

The problem with Barcelona in the Europa League for example is the fanbases and sometimes even the squads not taking the competition seriously. For example, just weeks ago Barcelona found themselves heading home for the second leg of the quarterfinals against Frankfurt and playing in front of a half-empty Camp Nou. The other half were Frankfurt fans who made the trip from central Germany to Spain. Frankfurt showed up that night and Barcelona did not which resulted in a shock elimination. You should see the way Frankfurt fans celebrated. They partied like they were world champions and rightfully so.

On the other side, you have Rangers. The Scottish giants have seen much, much better years. One-time European giants have seemingly “fallen off the map” when it comes to world football. This is their redemption. This is their Champions League finals. And therefore the Europa League final will be as exciting and thrilling as the Champions League final a week later.

The game will take place in Seville, Spain and is set to celebrate a “football fiesta”. The Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium has a capacity of just 43,883, but according to some estimates, there could be up to 100,000 fans coming to the Spanish city from the blue side of Glasgow while 60,000 Eintracht supporters will travel from Germany.

As for the actual match? Let’s dive in.

Rangers is the Europa League’s version of Real Madrid, mounting two comeback wins to reach the final. The Scottish club took out Braga 3-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinal after going down 1-0 after the first leg to win 3-2 on aggregate. The rangers then went down 1-0 to RB Leipzig and had a 2-1 lead on aggregate before a goal from Leipzig tied the matchup. John Lundstram found the net in the 80th minute to send the Rangers to the final.

Eintracht Frankfurt has been more convincing in this competition, knocking out Barcelona in the second leg of the quarterfinal after drawing the first leg. Frankfurt then went on to beat West Ham in the semifinal. This club won the competition in 1980 but has not made the final since that time.

Here are the odds heading into Wednesday’s finale:

Rangers: +185

Draw: +255

Eintracht Frankfurt: +130

Prediction: This will be an exciting match with at least three goals. I see Rangers coming out firing, finding the back of the net early. It will take Frankfurt longer to settle into the match than expected but they will find their way. I see the Germans tied it up late in the first half at one-a-piece.

Second half the Germans will come out much calmer and more determined. They will maintain possession better and force the Scottish side to chase the ball. This will pay off in favour of the German giants with Frankfurt taking the lead in the second half. The Rangers will have one more push towards the end of the match, but it will not be enough as Eintracht Frankfurt will just hang on and celebrate European success which they have not experienced in decades.