Eintracht Frankfurt battle Chelsea to draw in tough Europa League semi-final clash

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Chelsea saw the Blues play out a 1-1 draw with their hosts in Europa League semi-final first leg clash on Thursday, May 2, at Commerzbank-Arena.

- Eintracht Frankfurt vs Chelsea saw the Blues net a vital away goal ahead of the reverse tie at Stamford Bridge after playing out a 1-1 with Frankfurt

- Eintracht Frankfurt's Luka Jovic netted the opening goal of the match from a brilliant counter-attack move with a decent header

- Chelsea came back into the game and claimed an away goal on the dot of half time courtesy of Pedro's smart finish

Eintracht Frankfurt battled Chelsea to a 1-1 draw in Europa League semi-final first leg clash on Thursday, May 2, at Commerzbank-Arena.

The encounter saw Europa League’s top scorer this campaign, Olivier Giroud, stage a comeback to Chelsea starting XI alongside the duo of Pedro and Willian, while Eden Hazard dropped to the bench.

At the commencement of hostilities, it was an evenly contested affair in the early moments of the game, with goal scoring opportunity hardly to come by in the first 20 minutes. Of the match.

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However, in the 23 minute, Luka Jovic broke the deadlock after he smashed hi effort past Kepa Arrizabalaga, to take his goal haul in the Europa League to nine goals this term.

With half time fast approaching, Chelsea upped their game as they went in search of an equalizer, with Pedro showing class with clinical finish before the break.

On the hour mark, Chelsea almost netted the match winner, but David Luiz effort could only hit the crossbar.

The chances continued to come Chelsea’s way with Ruben Loftus-Cheek forcing Kevin Trapp to make a decent save for the home-side.

Hazard also failed to punish the Bundesliga campaigners from the rebound in the 76 minutes.

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And with five minutes to the end of the match, Frankfurt came close to snatching a late winner after David Abraham in the box, but the defender could not direct his header on target.

At the end, one of the teams could net a second goal as Chelsea take a slim advantage ahead of the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge.

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Chelsea have been hit with a severe blow following the injury of defender Antonio Rudiger who has been ruled out of the season with two games left this season.

Rudiger had missed two weeks with a knee problem, but was hurried back to face Manchester United in a key Premier League game on Sunday, April 28.

But he could only play 65 minutes against the Red Devils in a tough Premier League encounter which ended 1-1 The 26-year-old Germany international is currently undergoing surgery in Rome to discover the extent of his knee injury.

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Source: Legit.ng