Well, Sinama Pongolle, it's the Europa League Knock-Heist.

[Gerontophile]

Chelsea equalise (I missed it).

[Satchmo Distel]

Pedro from about 18 yards out. Good finish. The goal had been coming, to be fair. Not sure if Eintract can sustain their intensity against Chelsea's far more expensive XI.

From what I've seen of Arsenal v Valencia, the visitors are extremely wasteful after decent build-up play. Arsenal clung on in the first 20 mins or so but are worth the 2-1 just about and should add more. 4-2 final score maybe, although an Arsenal implosion can't be ruled out (their defending for the Valencia goal was comically bad).

I think a depressing all-English final awaits, though I'm not sure how Arsenal can beat Chelsea on their respective form.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Arsenal grabbed a third. Now they play Brighton at home, then off to valencia and then away at leicester. Chelsea have watford at home, frankfurt at home and leicester away.

Come on you bastards start losing.

[Snake Plissken]

That’s tough for Leicester.

(Arsenal have Burnley away on the last day.)

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Oh bugger.

[Sporting]

2 Dutch-speaking Spurs fans just called in at the bar on the corner.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I hope that the 20,000 or so Frankfurt fans that were planning to descend on London have found nice pubs to drink in and brought their waterproofs with them because we've been having heavy showers throughout the day and it's very soggy out there.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/archiert1/status/1126509421536743424

[Nocturnal Submission]

Fair play to them. They going to get soaked!

Sounds like they've picked up some hare krishnas on the way.

[Snake Plissken]

Arsenal concede before the quarter hour but pull one quickly. 1-1 on the night, 2-4 on aggregate and now extra time is a possibility.

[tee rex]

Arsenal have done the job. Only Eintracht Frankfurt can save football now.

[Sporting]

Exactly

[Wouter D]

Not once, but twice in the first half of extra time does a Chelsea defender make a last-ditch save to prevent Frankfurt from scoring that second away goal. This starts to feel like last night, when Ajax hit the post.

[tee rex]

What we need now is the impossible comeback in a shootout. Say, from 0-3.

[Wouter D]

Fucking Zaza runup.

[Sporting]

Bugger

[Wouter D]

I hate football.

[tee rex]

What we need now is the impossible comeback in a shootout. Say, from 0-3.

From 1-3, in fact. Shame.

[Greenlander]

So Game 39 has come to pass.

[Southport Zeb]

This Premier League Euro Trophy thing is a drawn out tournament - semi finals in Baku and Madrid in May/ June, final in Istanbul in August.

[jwdd27]

2,800 miles London to Baku, but it wouldn't have been that much closer for the losing semi-finalists, or in fact any team with a decent chance of getting through.

I wonder how the Azeris feel now they know who's coming their way. Wembley would seem a better fit, climate emergency and all that...

An added angle is that UEFA will now pressure Azerbaijan to grant a visa for Mkhitaryan, who as an Armenian is persona non grata (he had a convenient injury when Arsenal played Qarabag in the groups). Will be interesting to see what reception he gets from the local neutrals - surely the inevitable booing would be classed as racism?

[Sporting]

Mkhitaryan: if Azerbaijan are happy to host the final then the country should be happy to accept whatever players visiting teams choose to pick. Sure, this is open to debate (self-proclaimed racists etc.).But excluding someone on the basis of his nationality, no. I don`t know why Arsenal don`t make more of this, or am I missing something?

[Satchmo Distel]

Azerbaijan's visa policy should have been a condition of them being given the final. It should be a no-brainer that nobody gets a final unless they guarantee open admission of players.

The only real surprise tonight is that Frankfurt pushed Chelsea so close. Valencia being too leaky at the back looked likely after the first leg and they also had rather poor control when pinging it around the edge of the opposition box. Playing slower might actually have helped them. They seemed to have nobody who could hold the ball up.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Chelsea were OK in the first-half and in reasonable control of the game but started the second-half slowly, conceded the equaliser and were just awful for pretty much the rest of the game. Frankfurt were no great shakes but I felt quite sorry for them. We were there for the taking though.

[ad hoc]

https://twitter.com/nickgoff79/status/1126604863255789569