West Ham 2 Sevilla 0 (agg 2-1): Yarmolenko scores emotional extra-time winner as Hammers reach Europa League quarters

UKRAINIAN international Andriy Yarmolenko netted an emotional extra-time goal to seal a stunning Europa League last-sixteen win against Sevilla.

The Hammers dumped the six-time winners of the competition out after a 2-0 win at an electric London Stadium.

Yarmolenko popped up in the right place at the right time to stroke into the back of the net after Pablo Fornals’ long-range effort was saved.

From the very start you had the sense that one of the biggest games in West Ham’s history was always going to need more than 90 minutes.

Not that any Hammers fan were complaining after Tomas Soucek’s 39^th minute aggregate-levelling header – such was the sheer intensity and emphatic nature of this game.

Heading into extra-time, a first major European quarter final in 41 years was still alive.

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And never has a Europa League tie – often dubbed the second-tier competition amongst Europe’s elite – been so captivating.

David Moyes’ side were the instigators in that regard.

Never have the six-time champions Sevilla found it so tough against English opposition – engulfed by an atmosphere charged with nerves and expectancy.

Super Saturday at the London 2012 Olympics will always claim to have the best moment seen in this arena – three gold medals in a pulsating 44 minutes for Team GB.

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But the narrative was set in the days leading up to this one before seeping into the ground via the stadium announcer: the biggest football match in the history of the London Stadium.

The London Stadium has been called many things since West Ham set up camp here back in 2016 – soulless, lifeless, perhaps too big and too ambitious for the club trying to fill it.

Yet none of that was true in the presence of pre-match scenes rarely witnessed around these parts – not since Moyes embarked with the Hammers on this European roadshow.

Tonight, it had the lot. The noise: deafening. The lights: mesmeric. The DJ, borrowed from Wembley after his antics at Euro 2020: contagious.

Both teams emerged from the tunnel to a cacophony of madness from the stands.

The club promised there would not be an empty seat in this 60,000 seater arena, and the fans delivered.

Now it was time for the players to do the same. The first leg was defined by missed chances and spurned opportunities, and the second leg was going down that route early on.

Manuel Lanzini’s chip over the Sevilla backline allowed Fornals to let it drop over his shoulder but his volley was well blocked by Nemanja Gudelj.

Sevilla’s returning midfield veterans of Ivan Rakitic and Thomas Delaney helped stem the tide and briefly dampen an exuberant crowd with some excellent ball-keeping.

Anothony Martial – starting from the off this time – played in Ludwig Augustinsson down the left and his cut-back found Youssef En-Nesyri primed to shoot.

The effort was fizzing, but Alphonse Areola matched it with a stunning reflex save.

The Hammers survived and almost hit back thanks to a brilliant deft pass by Said Benrahma, only for Michail Antonio to fluff his attempt and Gudelj denied Soucek from a tap-in.

The Czech midfielder would soon be getting his revenge six minutes before half time. Antonio made up for his scuff with a pin-point cross to the far post after jostling for space.

Soucek spotted the mismatch against Augustinsson and looped his header into the side-netting. Cue pandemonium. Cue delirium. Cue madman Moyes bouncing along the touchline.

God knows what the Scot would have done had Soucek added another seconds after the break, stinging the hands of Yassine Bounou from the edge of the box.

Such was the dominance of Moyes’ men – the Euro newbies – that Julen Lopetegui was forced into changes he probably hadn’t foreseen making.

Rakitic – arguably the most influential player on the pitch – was hauled off by after just 56 minutes in an attempt to stop Declan Rice creating from deep.

It made little difference. West Ham were purring, on the cusp of getting that elusive second. Lanzini was denied twice by Bounou in quick succession.

For such an experienced team in these big moments – especially on English soil – the visitors really were rattled.

As the minutes ticked by, there appeared to be an acceptance of extra-time.

The fresh legs of Yarmolenko were brought on in anticipation of this one going the distance.

And it was indeed Yarmolenko who netted the winner deep in extra time to finish off the most perfect of all scripts.

Speaking after the game, skipper Rice said: “It was so special. This club, this stadium, fans and players deserve these big European nights.

“That resilience that boss David Moyes has got in us, the desire we have, it’s topped off the best night I’ve had at West Ham.

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“I’ll take anyone in the draw, there’s no-one to fear. People thought we had the hardest draw and we’ve knocked them out. I’m ready for anyone.

“It would be special to go to Barcelona.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk