• Friday, 27 December 2024
West Ham beat Freiburg to reach Europa league quarter finals

West Ham beat Freiburg to reach Europa league quarter finals

West Ham recorded the biggest European win in their history as they swept aside Freiburg to overturn a first-leg deficit and march into a third successive quarter-final.

Before the match David Moyes evoked the memories of their comeback win against Sevilla at the same stage of the competition two seasons ago - and this time the Hammers boss got a similar outcome.

Yet unlike that night against the Spaniards, when the home fans were tortured by tension and did not seal victory until extra-time, West Ham had the job wrapped up within an hour against a poor Freiburg side.

Lucas Paqueta pulled them level in the tie after just nine minutes as he slid in unmarked to turn home Tomas Soucek's near-post flick from barely a yard.

Jarrod Bowen continued his excellent season with his 18th strike of the campaign just after the half hour to put West Ham ahead on aggregate.

Veteran defender Aaron Cresswell then scored his first goal in almost two years as the visiting defence allowed him too much space to shoot.

The contest was finished but there was still time for Mohammed Kudus to make an impact as the Ghanaian scored twice in the final 15 minutes as West Ham completed their biggest win since Moyes returned to the club in December 2019.

They have now recorded an impressive 26 European victories in their trio of campaigns under Moyes. Before this run, they had achieved 25 in their history, including in the Intertoto Cup.

They will discover their quarter-final opponents on Friday lunchtime.

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