World Soccer - UK (2022-07)

mistake.But 12 minutesafter half-time,
ashecapitalisedona slipbyTutatoput
Rangersahead,itseemedthathemight
havewritten hisnamealongsidethose
ofColinSteinandWillieJohnstonas
a Rangersplayerto have scoredin a
winningEuropeanfinalperformance.
Butit wasnotto be.Frankfurt had
lookedthemoredangerousuptothen,
withFilipKosticgettingthebetter of his
battleonthe flankwithJamesTavernier.
Hehad alreadyputin 15 crosseswhen
hislow crossfromthe left wasturned
inbyRafaelSantosBorre as Connor
Goldson,slightlymystifyingly, let
theballrunbeyondhim.
Atthatpoint,
thesensewasthat
Frankfurt might
runawaywith
itbutRangers
ralliedandlooked
thestrongerin
extra-time.They
shouldhavewon it at thedeath;Kemar
Roofe’slowcrossdeflectingintothe
pathof Ryan Kentininjury-timeatthe
endofextra-time.Hewas sixyards out
withan apparentlyopengoaltoaim
at.But KevinTrapprecoveredwellas
theballspunawayfromhim,scuttled
acrosshisgoal,spreadhimselfand
blockedwithhischest.
Itwas,byanystandards, a remarkable
save. In thecontextofthegame,itwas
exceptional.Andso theglorythathad
hoveredoverAriboandhesitatedon
SantosBorre,passedontoTrapp.When
hereturnedtoFrankfurtafterfouryears
atParisSaint-Germain,hissuspicion
musthavebeenthathishopesof
Europeansuccessweregone.But
sometimes,eveninthe superclub
era,football candefyeconomics.
Havingmadethatsave,the
momentumwas clearlyinhisfavour
headingintopenaltiesand,sure
enough,heblockedAaron Ramsey’s
tameeffortwith hislegs– amiss
that, inevitably, willraisefurther
questionsaboutthewisdomof
bringingon substituteslatein
extra-timeapparently forthespecific
purposeoftakinga penalty. Might
Ramsey have comeonearlier?Might
hiscapacityfor late runsintothebox
havetroubledFrankfurt? Perhaps:
thathewas nottrustedevenfor a
longersubstituteroleisanindication
thathisenormously costlyloanfrom
Juventushasnot workedout.
Butthiswas nota nightfor
recrimination.It wasa throwback
Europeanfinal,theflares, thesmoke,
theriotpolice,thesenseofanxiety and
occasion;exactlywhatEuropeanfinals
usedtobeabout.Intheenditmattered
lessthatthe teamwhofinished 11 thin

EINTRACHTFRANKFURT 1

(SantosBorre 6 9)

RANGERS 1

(Aribo57)

AET. EintrachtFrankfurtwin5-4onpenaltiesHT: 0-0Ref:SlavkoVincic

2022 EUROPALEAGUEFINAL

May 18 – RamonSanchezPizjuanStadium

WHATTHEY

SAID

OLIVERGLASNER

(EintrachtFrankfurtcoach)

“Thereisnonextlevel,it’simpossible

Thisyearstarted difficult, butthe

players kept believinginthemselves,

inwhatwetoldthem, what we trained.

Thatshows thecharacter andmentality

thattheyhave. Thespiitdeveloped

• todaywehad payes whoweren’t
  eligiblefor Europe buttheywerenever
  negative, they wee notselfish,they
  did everything forsuccessThat’s
  why Iwasn’tsurprised that even
  whenitwas dfficult,our fans were
  louderthanRangers’and they
  pushedusforward.”

GIOVANNIVAN BRONCKHORST

(Rangersmanager)

“If youplayina finaland lose it hurts.

Itwentall theway to penaltiesand it’s

a bigdisappointment. You’re so close

towinning atrophybut that’s football.

Ifyou play finals youwillhavememories

thatstaywithyou foreverifyou win. But

ifyou lose it will hurt alot.I lost aWorld

Cup final, thebiggest disappointment

there is.

“We prepaedwellfor thepenalties.

[AaronRamsey] hadto[take one] and

heisone of thefirst takers.Wetrained

for thepenalty kicks. Some players

don’t need itYou want playerswho

takepenatiesand arecomfortable.We

had agoodfew playerswho wanted to

takea penaltyand others whodidn’t.

Wehad ourlistbut we also hadto

adjustitbecause of thesubs. Aaron,

ofcourse, is disappointed buthetook

responsibilitytotakethe penaltyand

you canmakeitoryou canmissit.

Unfortunately forus, he didn’t make it.

You do everythig youcan to winitand

withpenalties it’s alottery,and tonight

wewerenot on thelucky side.”

JOHNLUNDSTRAM

(Rangersmidfielder)

“It’s ahad onetotake. In the 120

minutes both teamsdidn’tperfom

great.I thoughtwecould’veperformed

better. It’s heart-breaking.Wecould’ve

won it,but what asave[KevinTapp

madefromRyanKent] –whatcan

you do?I’m absolutely devastated

I’m so,so, so heartboken.”

theBundesligabeatthe second-best

teaminScotlandthanthattheywere

thetwoteamsthere.Thiswas a final

togivehope,thatfootball,still,is

notjust aboutthesuper-elite,that

thenexttierstillhasa purpose

andcanstill thrive.

JonathanWilson

WORLDSOCCER 35

2022 EUROPALEAGUEFINAL

EUROPALEAGUEREVIEW

Inconsolable...Kemar

Roofe attemptsto

comfortteam-mate

Aaron Ramsey

Decisive...striker

RafaelSantosBorre

celebratesscoring

Frankurt’s equaliser

“Wecould’vewonit,but what a save [KevinTrapp

madefromRyanKent]– what canyoudo?I’m

absolutelydevastated.I’m so,so,so heartbroken”

RangersmidfielderJohnLundstram

McGeg

Tavernier

Barisic

Roofe1 17

oldso

AroLundstra

Sas1 01 )

Jack

(Davis 74 )

Wright

Sakala 74 )

sey1 18 )

assey

Kamara

(Arfield 90)

Kent

ap

Knauff

Sanos

Bor

Toure

Roe

(Jakic 90 )

Linstrom

(Hauge 71 )

Tuta

asebe)

ow

(stic 10 5)

Kamada

Kostic

Nc

(Lenz1)

Coach:Glasner Coach: VanBronckhorst