Rangers – RB Leipzig

(Rangers 0-1 RB Leipzig on aggregate)

5 May 2022 / KO: 20:00

• Following on from the first leg being the first ever meeting between Rangers and RB Leipzig, the Scottish side will host their German counterparts for the very first time. They are winless in their last three home games versus German sideshowever (D1 L2), since beating Werder Bremen in March 2008.
• RB Leipzig’s only previous encounter away from home in Scotland was a 2-1 defeat to Celtic in the UEFA ChampionsLeague group stages in 2018-19, meaning each of the three matches between themselves and Scottish sides have all been won by the home side.
• Since the formation of the UEFA Europa League in 2009, only four sides (from 17 ties) have managed to overturn a first-leg semi-final defeat to progress to the final, however, each of those occasions followed on from a single-goal loss in the first leg, with Liverpool (v Villareal) the last side to do so in 2015-16.
• RB Leipzig managed 10 shots during the first leg at home, their fewest since dropping into the UEFA Europa League earlier this season, with Angeliño’s winner the final shot of the match in the 85th minute. Rangers, however, have only managed six shots on target across their last 300 minutes of action in the competition.
• Rangers are hosting a major UEFA European semi-final for the first time since April 2008, in the UEFA Cup against Fiorentina; they’ve managed to reach the final in four of their previous five semi-final appearances in major UEFA European competition (1961, 1967 & 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup and 2008 UEFA Cup). Coming in to the 2021-22 campaign, only Porto (5/6) and Sevilla (6/6) have a higher progression rate from major UEFA European semi-finals than Rangers (80% - min. 5 ties).
• RB Leipzig are looking to progress to their very first European final as a club, with this their first ever two-legged semi-final. The German side have however progressed from four of their six other two-legged knockout ties in European competition.
• Rangers’ James Tavernier (5) has scored more home goals in this season’s UEFA Europa League than any other player, scoring via a penalty in each of his last three games in the competition at Ibrox. Should he score a penalty goal in this match, he would be the first player to score via this method in four consecutive home matches in the competition.
• Ten of Christopher Nkunku’s 11 goals for RB Leipzig in major European competition have come this season, leaving only Karim Benzema (14), Robert Lewandowski (13) and Sébastien Haller (11) with more goals across 2021-22 in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League prior to the second leg matches. Indeed, he is currently tied with Timo Werner and Emil Forsberg for the most goals in Leipzig’s short European history (excluding qualifiers).

Eintracht Frankfurt – West Ham

(Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 West Ham on aggregate)

5 May 2022 / KO: 20:00

• Eintracht Frankfurt take a 2-1 lead back to Germany for the second leg. Eintracht have progressed from 22 of their previous 25 two-legged affairs in major UEFA European competition when winning the first leg, while they have never been eliminated after winning the first leg away from home (6/6).
• The last team to progress to a UEFA Europa League final after suffering defeat in the first leg of the semi-finals was Liverpool in 2015-16 (3-1 on aggregate versus Villarreal). Before this season, only four of the 17 teams to lose in the first leg of the final four have still managed to qualify for the showpiece.
• Eintracht Frankfurt are aiming to reach a European final for the first time since the 1980 UEFA Cup (v Borussia Mönchengladbach), when they won their last European trophy. Frankfurt could become the first German side to appear in both a UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League final.
• West Ham will face a German side away from home in Europe for the first time since the first leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1975-76 – a 2-1 defeat away to Eintracht Frankfurt. West Ham are yet to win away to German opposition in three attempts, also drawing against 1. FC Magdeburg and losing to Borussia Dortmund in 1965-66.
• In their history as a professional club, Eintracht Frankfurt have only lost one semi-final match when playing at home (P12 W9 D2), losing 0-3 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal in 1992-93. Their last semi-final match on home soil saw them draw 1-1 with Chelsea in this competition in 2018-19.
• Daichi Kamada has been directly involved in 14 goals in 18 starts for Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League (11 goals and three assists), including scoring or assisting in all three knockout stage rounds for the German side this season (Round of 16 v Real Betis, quarter-finals v Barcelona and semi-finals v West Ham).
• West Ham’s Declan Rice has made 182 ball carries in the UEFA Europa League this season, second only to Barcelona’s Eric García (191). The total distance of Rice’s carries amounts to 2,083 metres, more than 400 metres more than any other central midfield player in 2021-22.
• Eintracht Frankfurt’s Filip Kostic has created more chances following a carry (moving 5+ metres with the ball) than any other player in the UEFA Europa League this season (9) – indeed, he has generated the most shots after a carry overall, between shots (10) and chances created (9).