62 2GM Friday March 18 2022 | the times
SportFootball
A jubilant roar erupted from West
Ham United supporters more accus-
tomed to agony than ecstasy after
witnessing this historic victory. Mark
Noble, the boyhood fan who became
captain, had tears in his eyes. Declan
Rice mimicked the famous Nobby
Stiles jig from the 1966 World Cup
final and was embraced by David
Moyes, his manager who had gone on
a lap around the pitch.
It was a poignant goal that inflicted
an impressive defeat on Seville, six-
times winners of the Europa League,
and put West Ham in the quarter-fi-
nal draw at lunchtime today. After
Tomas Soucek’s header levelled the
round-of-16 tie on aggregate, Andriy
Yarmolenko pounced after Yassine
Bounou had again parried a shot with
eight minutes left of extra time. Moy-
es had been worried about how Yar-
molenko would react to the emotion-
al roller-coaster of scoring in the 2-1
win over Aston Villa on his return to
the team from compassionate leave
because of the war in Ukraine, where
some of his family remain. Moyes did
not need to worry. Yarmolenko came
on with three minutes left of normal
time and was physical and energetic.
Rice said: “Yarmolenko was a little
bit emotional away from the lads aft-
erwards. For what he’s been through
to perform like this is a credit to him.
He deserves this. He stepped up.”
West Ham have enjoyed momen-
tous occasions at home this season,
beating Liverpool, Chelsea and
Tottenham Hotspur, but without
doubt this was their biggest and most
significant scalp since moving into
the London Stadium in 2016.
West Ham went at Seville with
fearless aggression and maturity, in-
spired by nearly all of the 60,000 fans
that made up their biggest crowd at
their new home, reaching the last
eight of a European competition for
the first time in 41 years when their
fans clapped off a wonderful DynamoTbilisi side in the European Cup Win-
ners’ Cup.
Seville also arrived with pedigree,
are second in La Liga and have plenty
of experience and nous. It was their
43rd knockout game in the Europa
League since 2009-10, more than any
other side. They made five changes in
extra time, hoping to inject fresh
energy, but could not match West
Ham’s determination and fight. “It
felt fantastic but we don’t get a cup for
that,” Moyes said. “We have to refo-
cus and have another go.”
When Antonio went off injured on
Sunday, Moyes never thought he
would make it. He said he would not
risk the forward unless he was fully fit
from a thigh injury and he must have
felt the decision to start him was justi-
fied as he ran freely and created the
opening goal, crossing for Soucek,
seven minutes before the interval.
Moyes had spoken of the need for
patience and his players began with
plenty of composure, knocking the
ball around in front of the penalty
area and forcing a corner. Aaron
Cresswell, who had recovered from a
knee injury, swung the ball at the near
post and Bounou unconvincinglyWest Ham United (4-2-3-1): A Areola 7 —
B Johnson 7, K Zouma 7, C Dawson 7,
A Cresswell 7 — D Rice 8, T Soucek 8 —
P Fornals 8 (I Diop 119min), M Lanzini 8
(M Noble 115), S Benrahma 7, (A Yarmolenko
87) — M Antonio 7 (R Fredericks 120).
Booked Lanzini, Cresswell.
Seville (4-3-3): Y Bounou 6 — J Navas 6
(G Montiel 106), J Koundé 7, N Gudelj 7
(J A Carmona 111), L Augustinsson 6 — J Jordán
7, I Rakitic 5 (O Torres 56), T Delaney 6 —
J M Corona 6 (Munir 96), Y En-Nesyri 7
(R Mir 91), A Martial 6 (L Cruz 102).
Booked Montiel. Referee C Turpin (France).Yarmolenko passes his match shirt to a supporter wearing a flag of Ukraine, his home country; inset, Moyes celebrates with RiceA
fter Liverpool’s win at
Arsenal on Wednesday,
they are one point
behind Manchester City
with nine games to go.
Here, Tony Cascarino predicts how
those fixtures will play out.Remaining fixtures (FA Cup fixture
clashes or TV may cause dates to
change):Manchester City
Sat Apr 2 Burnley (a) WIN
It’s very hard to see where City will
drop points and it certainly
shouldn’t happen here, given thatLiverpool have to win at City –
they have won the teams’ past nine
meetings with a 32-1 goal advantage.
Sun Apr 10 Liverpool (h) DRAW
Guardiola’s City have not lost at
home to Liverpool in the league and
they might settle for continuing
that run with a draw here. Liverpool
can only really become champions
if they win this game.
Sun Apr 17 Wolves (a) WIN
Wolves have shipped only 23 league
goals and City only managed one
penalty against them at home. This
is City’s toughest fixture in the
run-in after the Liverpool game.
Wed Apr 20 Brighton (h) WIN
Brighton have only lost three times
away in the league this season but
they could be on the end of a
mauling here.
Sat Apr 23 Watford (h) WIN
Roy Hodgson has lost only two of
his six away games in charge of
Watford but they have no hope
against opponents who have beaten
them 14 times in a row.Sat Apr 30 Leeds (a) WIN
City beat Leeds 7-0 in December
and this will also be comfortable.
Marcelo Bielsa has left but Leeds
still play boldly, which will play into
City’s hands.
Sat May 7 Newcastle (h) WIN
Newcastle have lost their past dozen
games away to City and they may
even be experimenting for next
season here because they should be
safe.
Sun May 15 West Ham (a) DRAW
City scored 22 goals on their first
five visits to the London Stadium
but have drawn the next two. If
West Ham have enough left in the
tank that run of draws might
become three.
Sun May 22 Aston Villa (h) WIN
Having won their past eight against
these opponents City will surely
make it nine in a row if they need a
victory for the title, however well
Steven Gerrard has done for the
Midlands club as manager.Tony Cascarino
aet; West Ham win 2-1 on agg
Europa League
Round-of-16, second leg
Gary Jacob
Yarmolenko hits emotional winner
flapped. It was a reminder
of Moyes’ warnings
and another was to
come when Jesús
Corona twisted
and turned just
outside the penal-
ty area and felt the
slightest touch
from Rice’s hand;
he went down
clutching his back in
pain. He won a free kick,
which Joan Jordán struck
straight at Soucek.
And then came a pivotal moment.
Alphonse Areola produced an out-
standing save to prevent Seville going
2-0 up in the tie. Ludwig Augustins-
son advanced to the byline and pulled
the ball back for Youssef En-Nesyri to
thump a first-time effort from
12 yards and Areola, who was moving
to his left, thrust out his right hand to
claw the ball to safety.
The crowd were lifted and Saïd
Benrahma slid through for Antonio,
who cleverly waited for the ball to run
across his body and poked towards
goal. Nemanja Gudelj half-blocked
the shot that was saved by Bounou
before Seville cleared with Soucek
trying to force in the loose ball. Pablo
Fornals played a diagonal ball to An-
tonio, who exchanged passes with
Benrahma on the edge of the penalty
area. When Antonio could not find a
way through, he turned away and
chipped a cross with his weaker left-
foot to the far post where Soucek out-
jumped Augustinsson and headed in.
Moyes leapt on the touchline and was
nearly jumping within 30 seconds of
the restart when Soucek lashed a
drive that Bounou parried.
En-Nesyri sliced a decent chance
wide of the near post and then
squared for Corona, who wasted a
free sight of goal by blasting over,
before Yarmolenko struck.West Ham United
Soucek 39, Yarmolenko 112Seville
2
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