Fiorentina 1 West Ham 2: Bowen the hero as 90th-minute winner secures first European trophy for 58 years
JARROD BOWEN is clearly psychic.
Here is the bloke that had a dream about scoring the winning goal and in the 90th minute, he did exactly that.
Dreams clearly do come true.
For the 6000 or so West Ham fans packed inside the stadium here, the 15,000 in central Prague or those back home, rubbing their eyes with disbelief.
This actually did happen and it was not in their heads.
And so skipper Declan Rice took his place in West Ham history alongside Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds.
David Moyes, who raced on to the pitch David Pleat-style following the goal, can now be spoken in the same breath as both Ron Greenwood and John Lyall.
And so, at 7pm on Thursday from the club’s old spiritual home at Upton Park, they will go on a open-top bus parade all the way to Stratford,
There will be a few sore heads both today and also tomorrow morning.
What an incredible achievement from this team and also Moyes, who was so close to the sack on numerous occasions.
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But last night, when they were in danger of bottling it, West Ham held their nerves and saw of play-acting Fiorentina.
Moyes’ side took the lead with Said Benrahma’s penalty after VAR spotted a handball from Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi. He was hearing a bandage after his head was cut open by a West Ham idiot in the first half throwing a vape.
Yet just five minutes after West Ham put themselves in a terrific position, Giacomo Bonaventura delivered a polished finish to bring the Italians level.
But then Bown controlled a through ball from Lucas Paqueta and his finish was just superb. Cue absolute mayhem.
This game was certainly a bit of a slow burner. The only really notable incident in the first half was the behaviour from some West Ham fans which could get the club in trouble.
Ilkay Gundogan’s FA Cup strike after 12 seconds on Saturday is unlikely to ever be beaten although Michail Antonio had a crack at goal after 38 seconds although keeper Pietro Terracciano saved comfortably to his right. Incredibly, that was the only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
Antonio did well to keep a lid on his temper as he was constantly kicked, nudged and having his shirt pulled with little protection from the officials.
In contrast, Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez who had a pathetic attempt at trying to win a penalty by claiming he had been hit in his face, which was weird because he received the tiniest of nudges to the back of his head from Rice.
Although it is no excuse, when Gonzalez went down again after winning a corner, this frustrated West Ham fans so much they started lobbing plastic beer glasses onto the pitch with a vape hitting Biraghi.
He applauded the fans sarcastically before realising his head had been split open.
In first half injury time, Luca Jovic thought he had nodded his team into the lead when reacting first to a header from Christian Kouame which had hit the post.
Benrahama will also have been thankful as he failed to cut out the initial far post cross from Gonzalez.
There was a nervous wait for West Ham fans but to their relief after a long VAR check, the goal was ruled out.
Moyes’ team had lost concentration and their performance had dipped following the issues with the crowd.
But after a slightly wobbly start to the second half, they composed themselves and got the huge break they were hoping for.
When Bowen controlled the ball in the arena it hit the outstretched hand of Biraghi and there was never any doubt that it would be spotted by VAR.
Benrahama’s penalty was superb and all West Ham needed to do was keep their cool but they failed to do so.
Left-back Emerson was beaten in the air by Gonzalez and Bonaventura took one touch before guiding a decent shot beyond Areola.
The game opened up and both teams had their chances. Moyes tried to freshen things up by replacing Benrahma with Pablo Fornals with 14 minutes left.
In the 89th minute, Areola delivered a vital save to smother a long distance shot from Sofyan Amrabat.
And with extra-time looking nailed on, Bowen delivered that moment which will be seen time and time again on repeat.
Rice lifted the trophy, his final action as a West Ham player. He will now hope the next 12 months will be as rewarding. The omens certainly look promising.
Regardless of where he moves to in the summer, he will be a key part of England’s bid to win Euro2024 in Germany.
Because when Moore lifted West Ham’s European trophy in May 1965, he also had a pretty big tournament 12 months later. And that went pretty well.
