Lucky trousers, big dreams as Glasner leads Frankfurt to Europa League final

Frankfurt win a first European trophy in 42 years when they face Rangers in the Europa League final on Wednesday. The 47-year-old head coach wants his blue trousers ready for the "biggest game" of his career in Seville having worn them on the touchline during the wins over Real Betis, Barcelona and West Ham United in the previous rounds. "My lucky trousers had to be cleaned, they're still at the dry cleaners.

I hope I get them back in time," quipped the Austrian, as Frankfurt hope to capture their first piece of European silverware since lifting the UEFA Cup in 1980. Frankfurt's run to the final is due more to hard work than luck, however. After winning a group containing Fenerbahce, Olympiakos and Antwerp, Frankfurt saw off Betis in the last 16 before landing Barcelona in a plum quarter-final draw.

Ansgar Knauff's spectacular volley helped earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home before Barcelona were knocked out as the Germans won 3-2 at the Camp Nou in the return. West Ham were then beaten home and away in the semi-finals. The original trousers Glasner wore at the Camp Nou -- complete with grass stains -- now hang in Eintracht's club museum.

Glasner bought the replacement 'lucky' pair before the semi-finals against West Ham and he said they gave him "a good feeling, it's a little ritual". In his first season in charge of the club, Glasner can become the first Austrian coach to win a European trophy since Ernst Happel led Hamburg to the European Cup in 1983. He worked in Austria at SV Ried and LASK before joining Wolfsburg in 2019, helping them qualify for the Europa League and then the Champions League in his two seasons there.