Barcelona eliminated, West Ham advances in Europa League

Barcelona was the title favorite, looking to win the one trophy not in its collection. It was playing for the first time in the Europa League and had never won its predecessor, the UEFA Cup, reaching the semifinals on four occasions but not getting to a final. Frankfurt won the UEFA Cup in 1980. Frankfurt will next face West Ham after the Premier League club advanced to a European competition semifinals for first time since 1976 by eliminating Lyon 4-1 on aggregate.

Earlier, Christopher Nkunku scored twice to help Leipzig reach its first semifinals in a European competition with a 2-0 victory at Atalanta. Kemar Roofe scored in extra time for Rangers to prevail 3-1 over nine-man Braga for a 3-2 aggregate victory to face Leipzig next.

Leicester became the first team to advance to the semifinals of the inaugural Europa Conference League after coming from a goal down to beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1 in the Netherlands. The Premier League team will next play Roma. With José Mourinho in charge, Roma is one of the favorites to win UEFA’s new third-tier competition. The Italian club got its revenge with a 4-0 victory over Norway’s Bodø/Glimt to make the semifinals 5-2 on aggregate.

Barcelona had possession, but Frankfurt scored. They had entered tied 1-1 after the first leg. In a dream start for the visitors, Filip Kostić put them ahead 1-0 from the penalty spot four minutes into the game, sending goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen the wrong way.

Rafael Borre doubled the advantage still in the first half with a drive into the roof of the net from 25 meters (yards), giving Ter Stegen no chance. Kostić scored again in the 67th minute.Barcelona threatened late when Sergio Busquets scored in the 91st minute. The visitors were reduced to 10