WEST HAM almost ended Bayer Leverkusen’s incredible unbeaten season but suffered Europa League quarter-final anguish.
“Typical West Ham”, many fans will have uttered on their way out.
A miracle was needed and for some time after Michail Antonio’s early goal felt like it could come.
But Leverkusen sub Jeremie Frimpong then fired home a deflected leveller on the night after 89 minutes to clinch a 3-1 aggregate triumph for the newly-crowned German champions.
But while David Moyes’ side made a good go of it, this was another night where a limited squad and lack of options came back to bite the Hammers.
West Ham managed just one of the three goals they needed against the newly crowned Bundesliga champions – who had not lost in 43 games across all competitions before last night.
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Their remarkable three-year European tour is over and only a superb end to the Premier League season can bring about a fourth year.
Unlike Xabi Alonso, and just like last week, Moyes did not have anyone to send on to push on.
Questions should and will be asked about the decision to let Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals leave without replacements in January.
While Moyes was without Lucas Paqueta and Emerson Palmieri through suspension, the Scot was able to welcome Jarrod Bowen back from injury.
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The England man’s return, having trained just once after a back injury, notched up the faint hopes of a famous comeback – as did Leverkusen’s raucous celebrations after winning the Bundesliga title on Sunday.
Pre-match pyro and talk of Sevilla two years ago had the home support at their loudest early on.
With that backing, West Ham showed more attacking intent in the opening ten minutes here than across the entire first leg – and it paid off.
Odilon Kossounou, one of three Leverkusen changes from last Thursday, had already picked up a daft yellow for cutting down James Ward-Prowse before handing the Hammers the ball to halve the deficit.
His terrible clearance was collected by Tomas Soucek to get things going, Bowen cut in from the right and lifted an inviting cross into the middle where Antonio rose easily above Kossounou to head in past Matej Kovar.
The Leverkusen keeper was scrambling minutes later too, just holding on to a deflected effort from Mohammed Kudus before stopping another Antonio header.
Kovar was diving left and right – with one of his stops even leaving Moyes on his back in the technical area.
Kudus picked out Bowen alone at the far post but his effort from yards out was stopped by Kovar’s boot.
West Ham had been targeting Kossounou and getting so much joy that Alonso hooked him after just 28 minutes.
Alonso insisted that there would be no hangovers from their beer-fuelled title party, but his players hardly looked sober at times in the first half.
The Hammers had Leverkusen on the ropes, but were close to losing their heads.
As Spanish ref Jose Maria Sanchez was sending off two coaches, West Ham’s Billy McKinlay and Sebastian Parrilla from Leverkusen, Antonio and Jonathan Tah sparked a massive brawl after the Hammers striker tried to delay a free-kick.
Calm was restored for a spell afterwards and the Hammers kept creating chances, forcing mistakes from a team chasing invincibility.
Edson Alvarez’s shot was frustratingly blocked by Antonio before Coufal’s follow-up was saved.
Having already made one change in the first half, there were two more from Alonso at the break. It was his bench which had made all the difference a week earlier and the Spaniard was counting on it again.
By contrast, Moyes did not even fill every spot on his bench, with six academy kids named among the substitutes.
It was going to need an almighty effort from the Hammers to keep this up, having already lost Nayef Aguerd to an ankle injury before the break.
The changes improved Leverkusen, but Antonio was still a threat going the other way and was denied a string of good shouts for a free-kick.
As more decisions went against West Ham, and the referee needlessly imposed himself on the second half, the hope drained away from the home support just as the energy was leaving the legs of those left out there.
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Nonetheless, Frimpong’s lucky leveller was a cruel way for Euro elimination to be confirmed
There was little West Ham could regret from the second-leg, their late collapse in Leverkusen – conceding that second goal – was the real killer.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
