The disappointment was too much for West Ham to bear. Even David Moyes had lost control as a demoralising night deep in the German forest drew to a close. Any thoughts of a heroic comeback had long since passed and, for all that Moyes’s side fought after going down to 10 men, nothing summed up their lack of composure more than the sight of their manager making a lonely trudge down the tunnel after seeing red for losing his cool with a ballboy during the dying stages.
The harsh reality is that West Ham had not done enough to win this Europa League semi-final. For Moyes, who later apologised for booting the ball at a time-wasting local as Eintracht Frankfurt closed in on victory, this stung. More than anything, it was the sense that West Ham could have done more to reach the final. The frustration was immense and in the cold light of day it was hard not to feel that Moyes’s flash of temper owed much to his team’s inability to seize the moment against Frankfurt, who simply managed the details better throughout the tie.
