West Ham triumphs in an exciting Europa League final.
West Ham defeated Fiorentina and won the Europa Conference League in Prague with to a last-second goal from Jarrod Bowen, ending their 43-year drought for a major trophy.
After Giacomo Bonaventura’s well-placed goal just seven minutes later cancelled out Said Benrahma’s second-half penalty, it appeared like the match would go into extra time.
Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi was injured by a plastic bottle thrown from the West Ham area during a particularly tense and occasionally foul-mouthed period of the game.
The most dramatic way possible was used to end the game.
As Lucas Paqueta threaded a beautiful pass through the Fiorentina defense, Bowen timed his run to perfection.
The England player broke free, collected himself, and then calmly defeated Pietro Terracciano to excite the Hammers supporters, who outnumbered the 5,000 tickets allotted to them and send manager David Moyes sprinting down the sidelines in celebration of winning his first major trophy.
It implies that in what was likely his final game for the team, captain Declan Rice led the team to victory in the same manner as team greats Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds. Bonds led West Ham to the FA Cup in 1975 and Moore led them to the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965.
The win guarantees the team a spot in the Europa League for the upcoming season, which will mark the first time in the club’s history that they will play in Europe three years in a row.
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