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The Germans, who last featured in a European final in 1980, will
face Rangers on May 18 after the Scottish side knocked out RB
Leipzig.
In front of a deafening 48,000 crowd, Rafael Borre drilled in
the winner for the hosts in the 26th minute, beating the English
club for a second time following a 2-1 triumph in the first leg
last week.
West Ham, who played most of the game with 10 men after left
back Aaron Cresswell was dismissed for a professional foul on
Jens Petter Hauge in the 17th minute, were toothless throughout.
Their manager David Moyes was also sent off in the 79th minute
for angrily kicking a ball in a frustrating and scrappy end to
West Ham's European run this season.
"A dream has finally come true," Eintracht president Peter
Fischer said, surrounded by ecstatic fans who stormed the pitch
on the final whistle.
"The team did it really well. This city and this environment
deserved it. That's football and now we will win this thing,"
Fischer said.
It had not started well for Frankfurt, though, with defender
Martin Hinteregger taken off after only eight minutes with a
hamstring injury.
But the dismissal of Creswell opened up space down the wing for
the Germans and Ansgar Knauff made the most of it when he
charged through and delivered a perfect ball for Borre to score.
West Ham hardly got a look in and their best chance came a
minute from halftime when Kurt Zouma's close-range effort was
cleared off the line.
They were equally ineffectual after the break with Moyes's
frustration boiling over when he kicked the ball at a ball boy
who he thought was trying to waste time.
"Really disappointed," Moyes said. "Things didn't go for us
tonight. I am really proud of the players – how they played with
10 men was fantastic. Other teams would have folded and lost 2-0
or 3-0.
"I felt this was a chance. I think we’ve played better teams
than Frankfurt. If we’re honest, we probably lost the tie in the
first few seconds at the London Stadium."
With the homes fans kicking off celebrations in the stands early
for what turned out to be a memorable evening for the club
struggling in mid-table in the Bundesliga, Eintracht comfortably
held on to their lead.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
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