West Ham joy turns to fury and terror as fan violence erupts
AZ Alkmaar 0
West Ham 1 Fornals 90+4
West Ham win 3-1 on aggregate
Inthe seconds after Pablo Fornals scored one of the most momentous goals in West Ham United’s recent history, the players and coaches leapt around and screamed towards the sky in delight. In the seconds that followed the final whistle, just a few moments later, those same players and coaches found themselves running in a different direction, with an entirely different look on their faces.
From delight to fury, in an instant, as they realised what was taking place in the stands behind the dugout. AZ Alkmaar supporters, clad in black hoods and balaclavas, had charged towards the group of travelling fans that contained the friends and families of the players.
Flynn Downes, Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio were among the players who attempted to join the fray. Their joy had turned to anger at what they were witnessing, and surely to fear about what might have been happening to their loved ones. Thankfully, the West Ham supporters in that section were not to be moved, or even intimidated. As one of them told
Telegraph Sport: “The AZ fans did not get very far.”
Much like the AZ players on the pitch, then. For the preceding 90 minutes, the Dutch side had repeatedly run into a wall of West Ham players, who were simply bigger, stronger and better organised than their more slight opponents.
Even before Fornals had provided the finishing touch, scoring with a breakaway goal in stoppage time, West Ham had won this tie with their muscular superiority and defensive sturdiness. They will now contest their first European final in 47 years when they meet Fiorentina in Prague next month.
Sometimes there is beauty in the boring and, for West Ham, this was one of those nights. With a 2-1 lead to build upon from the first leg, they came to Alkmaar with a plan to contain their opponents and, crucially, to keep their heads as they pursue a first major trophy since the FA Cup in 1980.
At this stage of last year’s Europa League, West Ham had lost their composure on their way to losing the tie. Eintracht Frankfurt were clever opponents but Moyes and his players fell into their traps too easily, with Aaron Cresswell sent off in the first half and his manager then following him later on, after he had booted the ball at a ball boy.
This time, with that experience still in their minds, West Ham took a different approach. “We don’t need to be daft,” Moyes said before the game, and the strategy was clear from within a few minutes of action: maintain the structure, close down the spaces, allow Alkmaar to have the ball at the back.
The Dutch side are capable of producing pretty passing patterns but that did not particularly bother West Ham, who were happy to wait for their chances to snatch the ball back and then counter at pace.
One of the early challenges for West Ham was the atmosphere, where the stadium was packed and flares greeted the players before kick-off. Alkmaar came into this game on a run of 25 home games unbeaten in European competition, and a quirk of the fixture was that Moyes, when in charge of Everton in 2007, had become the first manager to win a European game here in the Dutch club’s history (ending a run of 32 games without defeat).
By the end of the first half, though, it was hard to see how AZ might find a way through. Beyond a few moments of nerviness, West Ham seemed comfortable. Not least when Nayef Aguerd, their centreback, dribbled out of defence and beyond three red shirts.
There was more spirit to AZ after the break. Sven Mijnans and Pantelis Hatzidiakos tested Alphonse Areola in the West Ham goal, before Thilo Kehrer almost prodded the ball into his own net by accident. But even though the pressure built, it never seemed likely that West Ham would crumble. Their defence held firm, with Aguerd and Kurt Zouma staying strong, and their running never slowed.
This was a game plan well executed and, in the end, a job well done, especially when Fornals ran away from the opposing defence in the final moments, picked his spot in the net and delivered the crowning moment. It was a goal that triggered the celebrations, and then the chaos that followed.
AZ Alkmaar (4-2-3-1) Ryan 5; Sugawara 5, Beukema 6, Hatzidiakos 6, Kerkez 6 (M de Wit 85); Reijnders 6, Clasie 6; Van Brederode 5 (Lahdo 78), Mijnans 6 (D de Wit 70), Karlsson 5 (Meerdink 85); Pavlidis 5. Subs Verhulst (g), Deen (g), Mihailovic, Bazoer, Vanheusden, Buurmeester, Goes.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1) Areola 7; Kehrer 7, Zouma 7, Aguerd 8, Cresswell 7; Soucek 6, Rice 7; Bowen 6, Paqueta 7 (Downes 90+5), Benrahma 5 (Fornals 74); Antonio 6 (Ings 85). Subs Fabianski (g), Anang (g), Johnson, Coufal, Lanzini, Cornet, Ogbonna, Palmieri, Mubama. Booked Soucek, Kehrer.
Referee Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia).