Kevin Trapp’s career-defining save lights up final for Euro nostalgists

Glory comes in many forms and it came for Kevin Trapp in the form of an astonishing save in the final minute of extra time. When Kemar Roofe’s cross was deflected into the path of Ryan Kent six yards out, a late winner seemed certain. But Trapp scuttled across his goal, spread himself and the ball cannoned away off his outstretched right leg, a block rooted in hour upon hour on the training ground, honing reflexes and response times, getting the angles right.

He had four years at Paris Saint-Germain, but that save, even more than keeping out Aaron Ramsey’s penalty in the shootout, is what will define his career. In his second spell at Frankfurt, he became the man who won them their second European trophy.

A balmy night in southern Spain, a tight stadium with two steeply banked tiers, two enormously passionate fanbases, and it was possible to believe all is right with football. That it went to extra time, that weary players, hair drenched with sweat, were forced to drag aching limbs through more gruelling minutes, felt entirely appropriate. It may even be right that the final 10 minutes of the 90 seemed to consist entirely of Rangers taking throw-ins on their left flank.

The flares, the smoke, the small posse of riot police in surprisingly shiny helmets. This is what these nights are supposed to look like and this, after all, is what these events are supposed to be about: a great sense of occasion for two teams for whom European success feels not a birthright but an almost impossible quest.

There have been plenty of Europa League finals that have felt as though they were mere consolation at the end of a disappointing season, but not here. For Rangers, the second-best team in Scotland, and Eintracht Frankfurt, the