Chelsea beat Frankfurt to enter Europa League final

IANS  |  London 

Chelsea prevailed on penalties against to win the semifinal tie and set up a May 29 title bout with neighbours Arsenal.

Blues keeper did his part, making two stops, before Eden Hazard -- playing what may have been his last match at in a Chelsea shirt -- stepped to the line and converted for the decisive 4-3, reports news.

Chelsea were favoured after securing a 1-1 draw in the first leg of Arena with Hazard on the bench.

Earlier, decided to start the Belgian international, who is rumoured to be bound for Real Madrid over the summer.

And Hazard, who leads the this season with 15 assists, did not disappoint, delivering the crucial pass for Ruben Loftus-Cheek's goal in the 28th minute to put the hosts ahead 2-1 overall.

shot the ball into keeper on Chelsea's best chance before the break.

Four minutes into the second half, Frankfurt's showed why many of Europe's big clubs are interested in him.

The 21-year-old Serb worked a give-and-go with Gacinovic, got behind Chelsea defender and tricked Kepa into leaning left before blasting his shot into the undefended side of the net.

The 1-1 held up through the remainder of regulation and the match went to extra time, which saw chances for both teams.

Chelsea's Davide Zappacosta forced a fine stop by Trapp and scored on the ensuing corner, but the goal was disallowed for a foul against the keeper.

In the penalty round, Jovic and Haller connected for and for Chelsea, but Trapp made a tremendous save to deny Azpilicueta.

De Guzman and the Blues' converted before misfired.

scored and Kepa thwarted Goncalo Paciencia to leave the tally 3-3 after five rounds to set the table for Hazard's winner.

--IANS

aak/pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, May 10 2019. 09:16 IST