Among the 3,000 Eintracht Frankfurt fans in the London Stadium on Thursday night, amid the boisterous bouncing, choreographed flag-waving and songs of serenade for their players, one supporter gripped a flare tightly. If it was a symbolic warning sign, it was not one heeded quickly enough by West Ham.
Because from the referee's first whistle, the moment the 46 years separating this fixture and the teams’ last meeting vanished into some temporal ether, it only took 50 seconds for Frankfurt to move ahead in this semi-final. As Ansgar Knauff secured the opening goal at the earliest opportunity, it seemed at once that West Ham might wake with a start and a shiver from their European dream.
