West Ham crash out of the Europa League after painful 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt

West Ham are out of the Europa League after suffering a painful 1-0 semi-final defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Rafael Borre’s 26th-minute strike did the damage for the Hammers, seven minutes after Aaron Cresswell was shown a straight red card after denying Jens Petter Hauge an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

It’s not just a defeat, it’s the mother of all defeats. And it will take huge mental strength to get over this. Having come so close to a first European final since 1976. Having cleared prestigious hurdles like Seville and Lyon in previous rounds. Only played some very entertaining football throughout the first rounds. Only to see the Bundesliga’s 11th-placed mediocrities snatch the final spot and meet Rangers in the final. Yes, that will leave a scar that will last a lifetime for the Hammers. And not only did their hopes of achieving European glory go up in smoke but with it, the club’s dream of playing Champions League. And the already-tall-order of keeping Jarrod Bowen and Declan Rice now becomes impossible.

Man United target Rice has the quality to entertain Champions League crowds. Bowen likewise. And with a manager like Jurgen Klopp who rates the winger highly he could even get to the next level. But tonight’s loss won’t detract from West Ham's wonderful achievement. It’s just that, as the saying goes, the higher you fly the harder you fall. And the elimination beggars belief because many supporters thought, having avoided Barcelona, that this was a favourable draw and that progression to the final would be a formality. On paper the competition’s serial winners Seville and French giants, even if not-so-giants anymore, looked stronger than the Germans. This is, after all, a Frankfurt side that is without a win in 6 games in the domestic Bundesliga. That makes it even worse. It wasn't impossible to get something out of this, even after the first-leg defeat.

But it just wasn’t West Ham’s night. If at Lyon's Groupama Stadium everything that could have gone right went right, here the opposite was the case. Cresswell let his teammates down again with an avoidable early red card. But if against Lyon the Hammers had the strength to fight and earn a respectable 1-1 draw, this time the ex-Ipswich Town left-back’s red card had elimination written all over it. To make matters worse, even manager Moyes was sent off in the second-half.

Yet, in the early stages of the encounter, prior to the left-back's sending off which undoubtedly created the Hammers' own downfall, Moyes' men were playing well, trying to exploit the spaces that the Germans were leaving in behind due to their tendency to defend high up the pitch.

Croatia international Filip Kostic blasted the subsequent free-kick narrowly wide before Ansgar Knauff set up Borre for a 25th-minute opener. An excellent cutback near the byline was hammered low into the far corner by the Colombia international. All of a sudden everything was falling apart for West Ham, who needed a miracle like city rivals Tottenham Hotspur against Ajax in Amsterdam three years earlier to advance. And Cresswell's red card brought back memories of Jens Lehmann being given the marching orders in the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona. But if Arsenal managed to score 16 years ago, the Hammers came up short, failing to find the back of the net.

A chance to set up a grandstand second-half was shattered when Evan N’Dicka cleared a weak West Ham effort off the line on 43 minutes.

Then Sebastian Rode failed to double Frankfurt’s lead after dragging a weak shot wide in injury-time.

After the restart, poacher Borre tried his luck again but this time he fired straight at Alphonse Areola from the edge of the box.

Another proof that it wasn’t West Ham’s night came when set-piece specialist Craig Dawson, who normally finds the back of the net with his eyes closed with his head, nodded Michail Antonio’s cross into the turf before it ended up in Kevin Trapp’s arms.

Antonio, released by Rice on 88 minutes, also had a glorious opportunity to boost West Ham’s weak odds of qualifying but after superbly chesting down the ball, he could only muster a shot straight at ex-PSG flop Trapp.

Tomas Soucek, a fine header of the ball, also headed wide from a corner at the death.

It just wasn’t to be and it will take a healthy dose of mental fortress to come back from this.

And it’s highly unlikely that Rice and Bowen will stick around without Europe’s premier competition.