This will go down as one of the greatest games in West Ham’s history. It was an occasion to rival the farewell to Upton Park and it could not have been more fitting that the decisive touch came from Andriy Yarmolenko, who was the calmest person in the London Stadium when the ball fell to him in front of goal with eight minutes of extra time left.
They were all off the bench when he put the rebound away after Sevilla’s goalkeeper, Bono, pushed Pablo Fornals’ shot into his path. The noise, the sheer emotion, took the breath away. This crowd had seen Yarmolenko mark his return from compassionate leave with a goalscoring cameo against Aston Villa last weekend and now they had witnessed the Ukraine winger provide another moment of incredible drama, scoring the goal that sent West Ham through to their first European quarter-final since 1981.
Written by Jacob Steinberg at the London Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/17/west-ham-sevilla-europa-league-last-16-second-leg-match-report under the title “Yarmolenko strikes in extra time to sink Sevilla and send West Ham through”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
