UEFA Europa League
Result: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Chelsea
Date: 02 May 2019
Venue: Commerzbank-Arena
Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final at the Commerzbank-Arena on Thursday evening.
The tournament's top scorer this season, Olivier Giroud, returned to the line up alongside Pedro and Willian, while Eden Hazard dropped to the bench.
It was an evenly contested affair in the early stages of the first half, but clear-cut chances were hard to come by in the opening 20 minutes.
The deadlock was eventually broken on 23 minutes when Real Madrid target Luka Jovic fired past Kepa Arrizabalaga to take his tally to nine goals in the campaign.
Chelsea upped the tempo in search of an equaliser and they rewarded just before halftime break thanks to a clinical finish from Pedro.
The Blues nearly completed the turnaround just before the hour mark when defender David Luiz rattled the frame of the goal.
The chances continued to fall for the visitors as Ruben Loftus-Cheek forced Kevin Trapp into a fine save before Hazard failed to capatilise from the rebound on 76 minutes.
Frankfurt nearly snatched the winning goal with five minutes when David Abraham was left unmarked in the box, but the defender was unable to steer his header on target.
In the end, neither side could find a second goal as Maurizio Sarri's charges take a slight advantage in to the second leg.
