Andriy Yarmolenko hits extra-time winner as superb West Ham progress to Europa League quarter-finals
West Ham 2-0 (agg. 2-1) Sevilla: Tomas Soucek put the Hammers ahead before the Ukrainian’s goal in extra-time secured their path into the last eight
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Whether this was to be the end of West Ham's European dream or one of the most celebrated nights in their recent history, the Hammers were always going to come out swinging.
And when you come at the kings, you best not miss, or you will go down swinging.
Sevilla are indisputably Europa League royalty, their six crowns putting them three ahead of the closest pretenders to the throne, and this year's final is even set to be staged in their castle: the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan. It was in that stadium that Sevilla secured a 1-0 win in the first leg of this last-16 tie against West Ham, debutants in the competition this season who did plenty of missing in Spain and were punished by Munir for their wastefulness.
And so David Moyes's players were tasked with learning on the job against these most experienced of foes, needing to execute an efficiency that was lacking seven days prior.
It was also a new experience for West Ham's fans, who embraced the occasion by creating an atmosphere unique from any other at the London Stadium since the club's move here in 2016. In fact, the feeling inside the ground was unlike any at a West Ham game in not-so-recent memory. Whether or not the Premier League team were to progress, they were certain to be protagonists in one of the most monumental nights the club had seen in decades.
Sevilla's aggregate lead surely even enhanced the atmosphere in east London, where the home team applied pressure early to force mistakes from the visitors' defence. There was a sharpness to West Ham's passes and an alertness that saw them first to almost every loose ball. There was an inventiveness to their forward passes and a doggedness to their defending.
It was Sevilla who had more defending to do in the first half, however, and as they set up a solid perimeter around their own area, West Ham patiently worked the ball from flank to flank. From one such move, it was Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals who conjured the best chance of the opening phases, the former chipping a pass into the Sevilla box for the latter to fashion an over-the-shoulder volley. The effort was blocked well from close range, going no further than the outstretched leg of Gudelj.
At the heart of West Ham's midfield – or rather embodying it – was Declan Rice, distributing the ball efficiently, but Sevilla gradually began to see more of the ball and settled into the game, as they had in the first leg. Midfielder Thomas Delaney dropped back and picked out teammates with incisive passes from deep, and Julen Lopetegui's men were also applying sensible pressure to agitate West Ham's players. Sevilla simultaneously exhibited their greater nous in European competition to win the occasional free kick, but what West Ham lacked in experience they were making up for in spirit – a spirit that was reflected in the stands.
Still, Sevilla turned the screw and soon created their first clear opening. A crossfield pass out to the left wing was controlled well by Anthony Martial under pressure, the former Manchester United forward then back-heeling the ball to set up a cutback to Youssef En-Nesyri. The striker blasted it goalward, only to be denied by a fine stop from Alphonse Areola.
West Ham retaliated by coming excruciatingly close to finding the net, with Said Benrahma sliding a deft pass into Michail Antonio, whose low shot was gentle but nearly squirmed under Yassine Bounou. Instead the ball deflected away to be cleared.
But West Ham's moment would come.
Having been guilty of overplaying around the Sevilla area at times, Moyes' players seemed to have done just that when Antonio ended up on the ball but out wide. The striker dug out a cross, however, the ball floating to Tomas Soucek at the back post. The midfielder headed it back across goal, watching it dip over Bounou and nestle in the netting as the London Stadium erupted. Some might have even feared an east London earthquake capable of registering on the Richter scale.
That moment late in the first half emboldened West Ham and they came out strong after the break, Rice nudging a pass to Soucek in the Sevilla box, the goalscorer thundering the ball at Bounou before Rice skewed the rebound wide. Lanzini was next to try to pull West Ham ahead on aggregate, forcing a double-save out of Bounou, who spilled the Argentine's powerful first attempt before reacting quickly to keep out the second, closer-range effort.
West Ham were in the ascendant. Three quarters of the way through this tie, they had found their goal. Now, they were swinging at the kings but missing in a manner reminiscent of the first leg.
The hosts earned a series of corners, Aaron Cresswell even hitting the roof of the net from one of them before flashing a pearly grin while jogging back into position. The grin would become a grimace as West Ham were forced onto the back foot, Sevilla's wayward shots and long balls giving way to shorter, neater, antagonising passes.
Moyes and the crowd looked to Andriy Yarmolenko, replacing Benrahma, in hopes of heroics from the Ukraine international after his emotional goal against Aston Villa on Sunday. There were to be no heroics before the whistle went for full time.
Still, a tie that had ebbed and flowed would continue to do so for an additional half an hour. A Fornals corner found Craig Dawson, who nodded the ball down and watched its bounce carry it to Soucek. This time, the Czech could not find the mark with a close-range header, the angle working against him. In the second half of extra time, Sevilla substitute Luis Cruz miscontrolled a volleyed back pass, gifting Antonio the ball with plenty of space but also plenty of grass to cover. The West Ham man's attempted switch to Fornals was misjudged, however.
It seemed like the best chance of extra time had come and gone. It had not. Neither had the time for Yarmolenko's heroics.
Fornals bent a shot towards the far bottom corner, drawing a save out of Bounou. The goalkeeper could only palm the ball to Yarmolenko, however, and the winger calmly passed it home.
Around him, 60,000 West Ham fans were anything but calm. The Ukrainian, perhaps in the briefest moment of escapism from all that must have occupied his mind in recent weeks, had provided West Ham supporters with their own escape – admittedly from much less grave struggles, but nevertheless he had enraptured them, plunging east London into ecstasy.
There was still fighting to be done. There was still danger to be navigated. West Ham, learning on the job minute by minute, did all they needed to.
The Hammers came out swinging at the kings. On this famous night, they did not miss.
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