Sevilla started the second leg off very strong by dominating the possession. West Ham had a chance against the run of play when a lovely ball was played in the air to Fornals, who managed to strike the ball on the volley. The subsequent shot was blocked by Sevilla defender Gudelj.
As Sevilla continued to apply pressure, the Hammers were put to the test when a good shot by Nesyri was saved by West Ham goal keeper Areola.
Connection
Great work rate was shown by Soucek when he won the ball back for West Ham to allow them to start their own attack. In this phase of play Benrahma found Antonio in a goal scoring position, but he did not get a proper connection on the ball.
West Ham had a good phase of play in Sevilla’s half as they made their way to their box. Antonio’s perfect cross reached Soucek who headed the ball past Bono to put the hosts in front just before half time.
Hammers Dominate Second Half
West Ham started the second half on the front foot. Just seconds into the second half Rice dribbled past three defenders before playing a pass to Soucek, whose first-time shot was kept out by Sevilla’s goal keeper. Rice’s shot went wide from the rebound.
Lanzini had a chance to increase the lead for the Hammers when he shot twice at Sevilla goalkepper Bono who denied him on both occasions. The 90 minute match finished 1-0 to West Ham United (1-1) on Aggregate.
Extra Time Drama
In the first half of extra time, West Ham had a corner that should have been headed home by Soucek. From one yard out, he only found the side-netting, leaving the Czech with his head in his hands.
In the second half of extra time, Lanzini switched a nice ball over to Fornals to cut in and shoot. Fornals’ shot was pushed wide by Bonno but only to Yarmolenko. The Ukrainian took a risk on the rebound and scored to ensure West Ham’s European campaign would continue. The match after extra time finished 2-0 to West Ham United. (2-1) on Aggregate.
I spoke to West Ham United fan Bradley Stevens after the game to get his insight. He stated ‘Words cannot describe how I am feeling right now, we are currently making history.’
We Were Resilient
West Ham boss David Moyes told BT Sport afterwards: ”This will be as high as we’ve had. We’ve had other nights. Avoiding relegation was an incredible high but thankfully we’ve moved on from that.”
He added ” Beating a serial winner of this competition made it a bit more special. They just keep going. You could see the resilience in them. We keep going.”
Player Ratings
West Ham: Areola (8); Johnsons(7), Zouma (7), Dawson (7), Cresswell (7); Rice(8), Soucek(8) ;Fornals(7), Lanzini(7), Benrahma(7);Antonio (8)
Subs: Yarmolenko (8), Noble (n/a), Diop(n/a), Fredericks (n/a)
Sevilla: Bounou (6); Jesus Navas(7), Kounde(7), Gudelj(6), Augustinsson (6); Jordan(7), Delaney(6), Rakitic (6); Corona(6), En-Nesyri(7), Martial(6)
Subs: Torres (6), Vicente(6), Munir (6), Cruz(n/a), Carmona (n/a), Montiel (n/a)
Man of the match: Michail Antonio
Opta Stats
West Ham have reached the quarter final of a major European competition for the first time since the 1980-81 Cup Winner’s Cup
Sevilla have lost each of their last six European competition matches that have gone to extra-time, three in the Super Cup and three in the UEFA Europa League.
Next Game Sees Hammers Visit Old Foes Spurs
West Ham will visit Spurs in a huge London Derby on Sunday. If Spurs lose it will dent their top four chances and further boost the Hammers chances of clinching European qualification. The Hammers also found out they will play Lyon in the next round of the Europa League.