Kostic opened the scoring from the penalty spot, before a quite spectacular strike from Borré extended Eintracht’s advantage before the interval. Kostic made it 3-0 in the second half and although Sergio Busquets and Memphis Depay reduced the arrears late on, it was not enough to deny Oliver Glasner’s side a place in the semi-finals.
Jakic, Kamada return; Tuta recalled
Glasner made three changes to the Eintracht side beaten by Freiburg in the Bundesliga at the weekend. Almamy Touré replaced the suspended Tuta in the Eagles’ back three, while Kristijan Jakic and Daichi Kamada were recalled after starting Sunday’s 2-1 defeat on the bench. Jens Petter Hauge was among the substitutes at Camp Nou, but Djibril Sow was unavailable after suffering a knee injury against Christian Streich’s side.
Eagles in dreamland
Somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 Eintracht fans are believed to have travelled to the capital of Catalonia to support the Eagles on Thursday, and those lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket were treated to the perfect start at Camp Nou. Eric Garcia was penalised inside the penalty area for a foul on Jesper Lindström, allowing Kostic to stroke home the opener from 12 yards.
Former Borussia Dortmund duo Ousmane Dembele and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang nearly combined to bring Barcelona back on level terms, but the latter was only able to direct his close-range header over Kevin Trapp’s crossbar. Kostic and Ansgar Knauff were both denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen as Eintracht continued to push forward, but there was nothing the ex-Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper could do to stop Borré’s thunderous, 25-yard drive from nestling in the back of the net.
Eintracht survive late fightback
The chances continued to come thick and fast as the second 45 minutes got under way. Aubameyang missed a glorious opportunity to halve the deficit when he failed to make proper contact with Dembele’s low delivery towards the far post. The Gabon striker was denied by Trapp not long afterwards, shooting straight at the Eagles’ stopper from the edge of the six-yard box, before Lindström’s low effort was blocked by the leg of ter Stegen.
Glasner’s side kept on coming and made it 4-1 on aggregate through Kostic, whose trademark low finish into the far corner left ter Stegen grasping at thin air. Busquets reduced the arrears with a powerful drive into the top corner and Depay’s penalty following a foul from Evan Ndicka – who was shown a second yellow card – gave the hosts a glimmer of hope, but Eintracht survived to secure a famous victory.
Summary: Somebody pinch us!
Words don’t do it justice. The goals, the support from the stands, the passion, the team spirit – everything came together on one of the most magical evenings of the Eagles’ recent history. Bring on the semi-finals!
SGE line-up
Trapp – Toure (Hasebe 90+9’), Hinteregger, Ndicka – Knauff (Chandler 90+9’), Jakic, Rode (Hrustic 80’), Kostic – Lindström (Hauge 80’), Kamada – Borré (Ache 80’)
Goals
0-1 Kostic (4’ pen)
0-2 Borré (36’)
0-3 Kostic (67’)
1-3 Busquets (90+1’)
2-3 Depay (90+11’ pen)
Red Card
Ndicka (90+10’)
