Concerning Arsenal v Valencia, I liked this, from whoever was doing the BBC text commentating:
I know I said I wouldn’t do it. But Valencia have one minute to score five so I’m saying GAME OVER.
Arsenal are going to the Europa League final.
Indeed they are.
Chelsea, on the other hand, having drawn 1-1 in Frankfurt, found themselves drawing 1-1 in London. Chelsea needed to score, but even more, they needed not to be scored against, again, because they’d then have had to score twice more themselves. So, for Chelsea, it made sense to play it carefully and hope to win on penalties.
Which they did, and did.
Way back on April 17th, I quoted a BBC text commentator asking this:
Are we heading for an all-English Champions League final AND an all-English Europa League final?
Mission accomplished. It will be London v London, in Baku, and (as maybe you heard earlier) London v Liverpool in Madrid. West Ham, where were you when London needed you?
Catch up on the Chelsea Frankfurt game here.
By the way, I only just found out that “Eintracht” means “harmony” or “concord” or “unity”. So Eintracht Frankfurt basically means Frankfurt United. Tonight, united in grief. Or maybe not. Is there also a Frankfurt City?