The Sydney Morning Herald

A corner kick from Pedro Porro… and a header from Cristian Romero, a free header! It’s just wide.

Wow. What a chance. That would have been enormous.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 (1-2) Tottenham Hotspur, 61 minutes

...for taking down Destiny Udogie as he dashed down the left flank. Correct call. Cynical challenge to disrupt Tottenham’s rhythm.

This match is so finely poised.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 (1-2) Tottenham Hotspur, 57 minutes

After a few minutes of building pressure by the hosts, Brennan Johnson concedes a corner kick… it’s taken short, and then eventually the ball is crossed in, but Spurs clear the danger. Not for long, though - as they look to spring forward on the counter-attack, Kulusevski gives away a free kick in a dangerous position, about 10–15 metres out from the edge of the penalty box...

Chaibi takes it… and it whistles just wide of the left post!

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 (1-2) Tottenham Hotspur, 51 minutes

...here we go.

Massive half to come.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 (1-2) Tottenham Hotspur, 45 minutes

Manchester United are 2-0 up against Olympique Lyonnais, with a 4-2 lead on aggregate...

Athletic Bilbao are 1-0 in front against Rangers, the first leg there was a 0-0 draw...

And Lazio needs one more goal to draw level in their tie with Bodo/Glimt after last week’s 2-0 defeat. It’s currently 1-0 to the home side in Rome. The winner of that tie will face the winner out of Spurs and Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is pushing for an equaliser and they’ve got a chance here after Bergvall gives away a corner… but Rodrigo Bentancur heads it away to safety. Only one more minute of added time for Tottenham to see out.

Brennan Johnson now sees a yellow card after a challenge on Brown, and the home side got really agitated about that… the referee also pulls out a red card for one of Frankfurt’s coaches, too! What about this?!

Anyway, there’s the whistle… Spurs are halfway there, thanks to Dominic Solanke’s penalty goal.

HALF-TIME: Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 (1-2) Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in a lively first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, with Pedro Porro cancelling out the visitors’ early opener by Hugo Ekitike.

Eintracht took a sixth-minute lead through striker Ekitike, who slotted home from outside the box into the bottom right corner, before Porro levelled for Tottenham 20 minutes later, flicking the ball in with a smooth finish from close range.

For Tottenham, who are 14th in the Premier League with seven rounds to go in a largely disappointing domestic season, winning the competition is their only remaining pathway to European action next season.

Eintracht, the 2022 winners, are still well-placed to earn Champions League qualification via the Bundesliga standings where they are currently third, two points above fourth-placed Mainz.

The German side, playing in their first European quarter-final since lifting the trophy, took a quick lead after Ellyes Skhiri won a duel with James Maddison and immediately sent the ball out to the left flank.

From there, the well-positioned Ekitike dribbled his way up to the edge of the area before scoring low past Tottenham keeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Tottenham, aiming to reach the last four of a European competition for the first time since their run to the 2019 Champions League final, equalised in the 26th minute through defender Porro.

Dominic Solanke played Maddison into the box from the left and the midfielder set up Porro for a first-time finish.

Ekitike should have restored the lead for the visitors just before the interval when he struck low from the edge of the box but Vicario easily saved his weak shot.

Tottenham, who finished fourth in the league phase one point above Eintracht, continued to have more possession after the break and Lucas Bergvall came close to putting Tottenham in front with a stunning shot from a distance.

However, the Swedish midfielder hit the woodwork. Rodrigo Bentancur did the same two minutes later and Eintracht goalkeeper Kaua Santos denied Maddison from close range just before the hour mark.

Brennan Johnson misfired a great chance from near the penalty spot in the dying minutes.

The second leg will be played on April 17 and the winners will face either Lazio or Norway’s Bodo/Glimt for a spot in the final in Bilbao. Bodo won the first leg 2-0 earlier on Thursday.