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Eintracht Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner believes the “whole of Germany” will be behind them as they bid to reach the Europa League final.
Glasner’s side hold a 2-1 lead from the first leg of their semi-final with West Ham and will look to finish the job on home soil.
Eintracht won the trophy under its UEFA Cup guise back in 1980, their only other major European final coming in 1960 when they lost the European Cup showpiece to Real Madrid.
Their run to this stage has already included a stunning victory over Barcelona at Camp Nou, with Glasner hopeful their home support can get them over the line against West Ham.
“We’ll play to win from the get-go with our fans behind us,” Glasner told a news conference.
“Our strategy must involve causing problems to the opposition defence. We need an even better performance than the first leg.
“I get the feeling that the whole of Germany are Eintracht fans in Europe. There’s recognition for our performances, but it’s not about living in the past – we need to stay focused.
“We expect a West Ham team that will try everything to win and reach the final. I told my players that our focus is to play to win.
“The order is clear: to play forward and to put the West Ham defence to the test.”
They reached the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2018-19, losing to another London club – Chelsea – on that occasion.
In their history as a professional club, Eintracht have only lost one semi-final match when playing at home (P12 W9 D2), losing 0-3 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal in 1992-93.
History is on Eintracht’s side heading into Thursday’s contest with the Hammers, as the last team to progress from a Europa League semi-final after losing the first leg was Liverpool in 2016.
