The pain was etched all over Declan Rice's face in Frankfurt on Thursday night. The disappointment for the West Ham midfielder was two-fold in a defeat that robbed him of a first European final and a route into the Champions League.
That would have been a first Champions League campaign for the 23-year-old, but as painful as defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt was in a bad-tempered game, there will be more famous European nights for Rice further down the line.
The Hammers were defiant on the pitch in Germany and they remain defiant off it when it comes to the future of Rice, but the reality is that simply cannot offer the stage that the 23-year-old deserves.
