Tottenham Hotspur knew that if they wanted to not only keep their dream of a Europa League title alive but also potentially keep their manager in a job, they had to do something very difficult: go to Germany and beat Eintracht Frankfurt away. That’s just what they did. Dominic Solanke slotted home a penalty at the stroke of halftime, Tottenham’s defense dug deep, and Tottenham emerged with a 1-0 win over Frankfurt to win the two-legged tie 2-1 on aggregate.

It was a gritty performance — not always pretty, but still solid. Tottenham’s defense was at times excellent, and while neither team scored from open play in this one, Mathys Tel had a number of good shots on target. This match also featured the return of Dejan Kulusevski, who came on for an injured James Maddison in the first half, and looked good for his shift.

The win means Spurs return to a European semifinal for the first time since they made the Champions League final six years ago. They will play the winner of Lazio and Bodø/Glimt in the semis, which at the time of this article posting was not yet settled.

What a glory, glory European night (even if Spurs were in green)! Here are my match reactions.

Match reactions

• So I missed the opening 20 minutes of the match due to a meeting going late, but from what I was told Tottenham didn’t look great but also didn’t let Frankfurt look great either. I’ll take that.
• My god, that was a RAUCOUS atmosphere at the Waldstadion. Love Europe.
• A fascinating match between two teams that were pretty evenly matched in a lot of ways. Both teams had chances, both teams gave up big chances. Neither could convert from open play. Unlike the first leg I though Frankfurt looked solid and Spurs had fewer opportunities on the road this time.
• Ekitike is a load and it was very nice having a (mostly) healthy Micky van de Ven able to run back and defend him when he got into space.
• I know we’ve said this before this season and it was readily apparent during the injury crisis, but Tottenham are simply a better team with Cuti Romero and Micky van de Ven in the back line.
• Santos trucking Maddison was the easiest penalty call you could possibly make and it’s baffling that it wasn’t made on the field, requiring the official to go to the monitor. The right decision was made, except that should’ve been a clear red card. And then Santos did it again in the second half to Solanke, without the benefit of a call! Wild.
• I have to say I was a tad nervous about Solanke taking the penalty considering his run of shooting form, and especially since Tel looked all set to do it, but full credit — he buried it.
• You can probably take your pick of what injury caused Madders to get subbed off — the guy got leveled — but I’m okay with him being subbed off for Deki out of caution, if that’s what it was for.
• Mentioned by someone in Carty Free chat — that was basically the perfect first half for a 1-1 draw second leg away from home. Spurs negated most of what Frankfurt wanted to do going forward, they had some good opportunities, and earned a good chance to go ahead, which they took.
• Deki might still be a tad rusty after a long injury-related layoff, but he was again a monster in the press, something we’ve really missed during his absence.
• Really impressed with Tel’s effort in this one. He wasn’t afraid to shoot and tested the keeper on a couple of occasions. Put a few more over, but he wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger. You look at a performance like that and think “Yeah, THAT’S why he’s a prospect.”
• In the first leg, Spurs had the bulk of the chances in the second half and simply couldn’t put the ball in the net. That script was flipped in this one — Frankfurt had much of the ball and several chances to score, but Vicario came up big with a few stops and Kristiansen couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
• Frankfurt and their fans were real shitheads in this one. Spicy, agressive players and fans that were throwing crap on the field. Made me much less sympathetic towards them.
• Bringing on Kevin Danso at 85’ felt extremely anti-Ange. Since when does he play a 5-3-2 and park the bus? Have we ever seen that before? I don’t feel we have. It worked, but it did NOTHING for my nerves.
• Y’all, it’s been a long, hard season but Tottenham Hotspur are in the semifinals of the Europa League. How good does that feel? The dream is still alive.
• At the time of this article posting, Bodø/Glimt and Lazio were in extra time so we still don’t know who Spurs will play next. But that’ll become clear soon.