Kudus delivers with ‘snake hips’
Solo strike is pick of five-star hammering
IF you can’t perform, don’t go on stage. Those were the words David Moyes delivered to his West Ham players ahead of their biggest game of the season.
On a night when victory was the only option, his team rose to the occasion.
Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen starred in the first act. It was then Aaron Cresswell, a man who has played more of an understudy role this season, who took centre stage.
But the lead role was taken by Mohammed Kudus, who scored a solo effort worthy of a standing ovation and described by his manager as a ‘Roy of the Rovers goal’. He then closed the show with a superb second.
Expectations have risen since West Ham qualified for this competition three years ago. Despite coming into this second leg 1-0 down, they were favourites to progress at the expense of their German opponents.
But few could have anticipated a demolition job like this.
Moyes had said in 2021 that he wanted West Ham to become a big club in Europe and it is now three European quarter-finals in three years. He may have his doubters but it is hard to argue with that record.
‘For us to be in another quarterfinal is a brilliant achievement,’ Moyes said. ‘The club has moved on so much in the last three years. If you look at that journey, it’s an awful lot of good things that have happened in the last few years at West Ham.’
This was also a significant victory for the Premier League, with English clubs on course to claim a fifth spot for next season’s Champions League.
Two performance places are up for grabs owing to next season’s new format. These go to the countries with the best average performance in all European competitions this term. Italy were top with Germany second and England third going into last night’s game but the Hammers’ win put the Premier League in the driving seat.
It would also mean that if the FA Cup winners finish in the top seven, the eighth-placed team would take the Europa Conference League spot.
Moyes knew his side needed a fast start and they got one as Paqueta opened the scoring in the ninth minute.
Cresswell’s corner was flicked on by Tomas Soucek and the Brazilian was there to finish on the slide at the back post.
Kudus should have made it 2-0 shortly after but missed from close range. Bowen was more clinical. He raced on to Vladimir Coufal’s flicked header, held off a robust challenge from Christian Gunter and fired superbly into the bottom-right corner to put the Hammers up on aggregate.
There seemed a danger West Ham would be tempted to sit back and protect what they had but that notion was quashed in the 52nd minute.
Bowen’s cut-back was cleared to Cresswell on the edge of the box and the left back took one touch before drilling a shot into the bottom-right corner.
The fourth goal was the best of the night. Kudus won the ball just inside his own half, dribbled past three players on an incredible, slaloming run, then sent a clinical finish into the back of the net.
‘If anybody can remember dribbling wingers who used to run and take people on, with snaky hips, that was a little bit of that tonight,’ Moyes said. ‘It was a brilliant individual goal, a Roy of the Rovers type goal.’
His second was nearly as good, a rocket from the edge of the box which gave keeper Noah Atubolu no chance and put the cherry on top of a five-star performance. WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 7; Coufal 7.5, Mavropanos 7, Zouma 7, Cresswell 7.5; Soucek 7, Alvarez 7.5 (Phillips 86min); KUDUS 9 (Ings 86), Bowen 8 (Earthy 86), Paqueta 7.5 (Ward-Prowse 62, 6); Antonio 8. Scorers: Paqueta 9, Bowen 32, Cresswell 52, Kudus 77, 85. Booked: Cresswell, Alvarez. Manager: David Moyes 8. Referee: Marco Guida (Ita) 6. Attendance: 51,014.