Moyes praises five-star Hammers and ‘Roy of the Rovers’ hero Kudus
David Moyes hailed a “brilliant achievement” after West Ham reached another European quarter-final by flattening Freiburg 5-0.
Hammers boss Moyes uncharacteristically named an attacking line-up in a bid to repair the damage of the 1-0 Europa League first-leg defeat in Germany last week.
He was rewarded with a sparkling display as goals from Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Cresswell and two from Mohammed Kudus – including a sensational solo effort – secured a 5-1 aggregate win and a place in the last eight of a European competition for a third-successive season.
“I’m hugely pleased with the goals and the level of the performance and how well the players have done,” said Moyes. “We were really unhappy from the first game. We thought we should not have come out with the result we had. We had to put it right and thankfully we did.
“I think for West Ham to be three years in a row for quarter-finals in European competition, I am not sure it has been done before in the club’s history. We want to try to make it better if we can.”
Paqueta slid West Ham in front after nine minutes before Bowen celebrated his latest call-up to the England squad in style, shrugging off the attentions of Freiburg captain Christian Gunter before lashing the ball home from 20 yards.
Freiburg still posed a threat, though, with Roland Sallai firing across goal and wide just to let West Ham know the tie was still very much in the balance at half-time.
That lasted until six minutes into the second half, when Bowen’s square ball across the box was deflected out to Cresswell, lurking on the edge of the area. The leftback, who was the fall guy in Frankfurt two years when his red card in the semi-final against Eintracht cost West Ham dearly, took a touch before leathering the ball inside the far post.
The best was still to come, despite there being little sign of danger when Kudus picked the ball up deep inside his own half. The former Ajax wideman sprinted around 70 yards, slicing through the heart of the Freiburg defence before casually rolling the ball into the net. “It was a brilliant individual goal, a Roy of the Rovers type,” added Moyes.
Brighton beat Roma 1-0 at the Amex Stadium but Danny Welbeck’s 37th-minute goal was not enough as they could not overcome the 4-0 deficit from the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Liverpool cruised into the quarter-finals, beating Sparta Prague 6-1 (11-2 on aggregate) at Anfield with goals from Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark, Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo (2) and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Aston Villa reached the last eight of the Conference League with a 4-0 home win over Ajax after a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Amsterdam. Ollie Watkins, who later went off injured, got the first and Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby made it a comfortable victory.
Villa captain John Mcginn said: “When I came here, a lot was said of the history of this club and that it should be in Europe. Tonight we’ve given the fans something that they remember but we don’t want to stop here.”