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West Ham are through to their first European final since 1976 after beating AZ Alkmaar 1-0 to progress 3-1 on aggregate in the Europa Conference League.
Having been knocked out in the Europa League semi-finals just over a year ago after a naive performance at Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg, West Ham showed they had learned their lesson with a measured display to see out the tie.
West Ham’s slender advantage from the first leg allowed them to sit back and soak up the Dutch side’s attacks, but AZ did not put the visitors under much pressure – finishing the game with just two shots on target. Lucas Paqueta went close to scoring when he hit the post in the first half before substitute Pablo Fornals secured the Hammers’ spot in the final with a stoppage-time winner.
West Ham are into their first European final for 47 years
David Moyes’ side will face either Basel or Fiorentina in the final of the Europa Conference League on Wednesday June 7 in Prague. West Ham, who are 15th in the Premier League, can secure passage to the Europa League next season if they are able to win their first major trophy since 1980.
How the Hammers made history
West Ham’s first-leg advantage allowed them to set up on the counter-attack, while AZ Alkmaar were happy to dominate possession. The Dutch side, though, were passive and struggled to break down the Hammers.
Nerves played their role in the opening 45 minutes with neither side delivering a shot on target. Jarrod Bowen snatched at a chance from the edge of the box to send it wide, while West Ham rushed their passing in transition, miscuing passes for Michail Antonio on more than one promising occasion.
Paqueta went close for the Hammers as he struck a post with a curling effort just inside the area, but there were few other moments of inspiration to speak of for either side as West Ham weathered a late AZ surge to go in at the break level.
The hosts came out with much more urgency when play resumed with Alphonse Areola forced into two saves to keep out efforts from range by Sven Mijnans and Pantelis Hatzidiakos. Declan Rice had a long-range strike of his own saved well by former Brighton and Arsenal goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
Thilo Kehrer nearly levelled the tie for AZ as his attempted back pass almost found its way into the goal but fortunately for him Areola was able to scramble across to clear. Areola then nearly made a costly error as he spilled the ball when coming to claim a long pass forward, but he was reprieved by the referee, who called it a foul.
Substitute Fornals then took advantage of his fresh legs to surge through the tired AZ defence and score with a composed finish in stoppage-time to put the tie out of reach and seal West Ham’s spot in the final.
What’s next?
Sunday 21st May 12:30pm
Kick off 1:30pm
West Ham will be back on Sky Sports on Super Sunday when they host Leeds in the Premier League; kick-off 1.30pm. Their final league game of the season will be a trip to Leicester on Sunday May 28; kick-off 4.30pm.
The final of the Europa Conference League will be be played on Wednesday June 7 in Prague.
Opta stats – West Ham unbeaten in Europe this season
West Ham have reached the final of a major European competition for the third time in their history, after 1964-65 (Cup Winners’ Cup – winners) and 1975-76 (Cup Winners’ Cup – runners-up).
AZ Alkmaar were unbeaten in 25 home matches in European competition coming into this match (W17 D8) – West Ham are the first side to defeat them away from home in Europe since Lyon in February 2017.
West Ham remain unbeaten in Europe this season, winning 13 times and drawing once, with 33 goals scored and eight conceded.
West Ham have won 25 games in all competitions this season, with over half of them coming in European competition (13).
West Ham manager David Moyes has reached the final of a cup competition for the second time in his career as a manager, also contesting the FA Cup final in 2008-09 with Everton.
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