Forget Ajax. For all their brilliance, the most romantic team in European football right now is not Erik ten Hag's joyously refreshing young side. The most romantic team in European football right now is Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt beat Benfica 2-0 on Thursday night, overturning a two-goal deficit from the first leg to set up a semi-final tie with Chelsea in two weeks time.
They will be underdogs against Maurizio Sarri's side, but the Blues should not underestimate them. Frankfurt have not only knocked out Benfica, they have also lain waste to Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, and won all their games in a group containing Marseille and Lazio. Improbably, they are now German football's sole representative in European football.
Eintracht Frankfurt are one of the stand-out teams playing in European football this season
Roared on by their passionate supporters, Frankfurt reached the Europa League semi-finals
Portuguese heavyweights Benfica became the latest casualty for Adi Huetter's talented side
Much like Ajax's, Frankfurt's story this year is one to cheer any self-respecting neutral, a delightful rebuke to the cold laws of money in modern football.
Whereas Ajax have enchanted us as a cerebral 1970's throwback, Frankfurt are the rock'n'roll alternative: a fiery middle finger to European football's establishment.
So how have they got here, and what can Chelsea expect from their semi-final opponents? Sportsmail assesses the Bundesliga side...
WHERE DID FRANKFURT COME FROM?
One of the grand old teams of German football, Frankfurt have long had to dine out on past glories, and when Niko Kovac took the reins in 2016, they had spent many a year yo-yoing between relegation fights and Europa League challenges.
Kovac kept them up by the skin of their teeth in 2016, and set about building a new era of success alongside sporting director Fredi Bobic.
In the following two years, he led Frankfurt to successive cup finals. They won the second, beating Bayern Munich just weeks before Kovac left for Munich himself.
The win over Bayern, and particularly their third goal, cemented their reputation as a neutrals' favourite. In injury time at the Berlin Olympiastadion, Mijat Gacinovic ran the length of the pitch towards his own fans to slot the ball into the empty net, and the whole country celebrated with him.
Frankfurt spent years yo-yoing between relegation battles and challenges to get into Europe
AND THE SUCCESS HAS CONTINUED THIS SEASON?
Kovac was replaced by Austrian Adi Huetter, a man who is one of an unfortunate few to have been given the name 'Adolf' by his parents, despite being born after the war.
At first, it seemed as if Frankfurt's flash in the pan was over, as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat to Bayern in the German Supercup. Slowly but surely, however, Huetter set about improving an already strong team.
Under Kovac, Frankfurt had been a brutally well-organised team who could strike on the break. They have remained so under Huetter, while also becoming more dynamic.
The coach has also made some sharp personnel adjustments. Former Hamburg flop Filip Kostic has become a different player since signing for
