West Ham’s Europa League run comes to an End
It might have been a little sneered at when UEFA introduced it in 2021, but the Europa League has earned its place in club football. The competition was designed to spread the game beyond Europe’s elite and that is precisely what West Ham have done over the last three seasons, with a group of players who hardly featured at all in European competition just two years ago etching out an impressive record in this tournament.
That record came to an end in Athens on Thursday night as a much-changed Hammers side were beaten by Olympiacos, who took advantage of Moyes’ tinkering. The Scottish manager made seven changes with one eye on Sunday’s visit of Everton, but the reshuffle backfired.
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A makeshift West Ham side were undone by Kostas Fortounis’ old-fashioned toe poke on the edge of the box and an own goal from stand-in skipper Angelo Ogbonna. But a flurry of substitutions brought a late glimmer of hope as Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta all entered the fray. And the latter’s 87th-minute volley sparked celebrations on the bench and in the stands at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
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A 2-1 defeat means that the Hammers still have work to do to qualify for the knockout stage of the competition, with them level on points with Freiburg and two behind Olympiacos at the top of their group. However, Moyes will have to take heart from the way his team kept fighting in a tough atmosphere and it is far too early to write off this remarkable run.