Santos secures important draw for Frankfurt against Tottenham

Frankfurt and the Europa League - a perfect match! Die Adler have once again proven that they can be on the same level as the biggest teams in Europe.

Star-striker Hugo Ekitiké gave Frankfurt the lead against Tottenham in the 1st leg of the quarter finals, before they conceded a beautiful goal by Porro which made for the final score: 1-1.

1st half:

Frankfurt got up to a great start thanks to Skhiri and Ekitiké: after just 5 minutes, Skhiri got the ball in his own half, played a long ball to Ekitiké who then proceeded to dribble his way to Tottenham's box before putting the ball into the bottom right corner cleanly - 1-0 to Frankfurt.

It was Hugo Ekitiké's 20th goal in all competitions for Frankfurt this season. He might just become their next super-sale in the summer if he continues to perform like this.

Frankfurt's backup goalkeeper Santos had his first test of the game in the 11th minute: he easily caught a cross-turned-shot from Heung-min Son.

Frankfurt's plan for the game became obvious relatively quickly: take advantage of Tottenham's high line in defense and get in behind as often as possible to get in dangerous shooting positions.

Tottenham got back into the game after around 15 minutes and had their best chance up to this point in the 18th minute: a cross from Son went over Santos' head and was cleared just in time by Theate, before Solanke could strike for the Londoners.

After dominating the game for around 20 minutes, Tottenham finally got their goal in a beautiful way: James Maddison's pass from the left hand side found Pedro Porro who scored a backheel goal in the 26th minute.

In the 45th minute it was Ekitiké again who got into a great scoring position after a counter attack from Frankfurt - but he was denied this time around by Tottenham's keeper Vicario. Half time scoreline: 1-1.

2nd half:

It was again a hot start into the game for Dino Toppmöller's side: Skhiri, next to 4(!) other Frankfurt players, got into Tottenham's 5-yard box in minute 50 and wanted to make the final pass for one of his teammates in unselfish fashion - which was the wrong decision in that moment, letting a good shot opportunity go.

Similar to the 1st half, Tottenham took over after Frankfurt's promising start: both Bergvall's long shot attempt (55') and Bentancur's header (56') hit the crossbar. Goalkeeper Santos had to make 2 amazing saves in between, too - Frankfurt in luck.

Tottenham continued with their constant pressure and found a good balance between not being too open to counter attacks and getting into good scoring positions themselves. At this point, goalkeeper Santos was the only reason, why the score was still level at that point.

The match slightly cooled off after around 70 minutes with both teams visibly tired after the thrilling first 20 minutes of the 2nd half. More often than not, an exciting final phase of the game would await.

Frankfurt were barely able to create good chances for themselves; their focus clearly shifted to making sure not to concede again in order to take the 1-1 draw home to Frankfurt.

In the final minute of the game, Santos had to make a last save to secure the draw for his team. Final result: Tottenham 1-1 Frankfurt.