West Ham ended their 43-year wait for a major trophy as Jarrod Bowen scored a last-minute goal to beat Fiorentina and win the Europa Conference League in Prague.
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The final seemed to be heading for extra time after Said Benrahma’s second-half penalty was cancelled out just seven minutes later by a well-taken effort from Giacomo Bonaventura.
West Ham Jubilation at last
From 18-year-old forward Divin Mubama, who played no part, to Moyes himself, finally a trophy-winner after such a long career in management all joined in joy, leaping around trying to take it all in.
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There will be an unwanted post-script as Uefa is bound to come down hard on the Hammers for the unwanted first-half scenes that left Biraghi playing with a bandage around his head for the last hour of the contest and forced the club to condemn those responsibly.
However, that is for another day the reaction from the pitch and the stands at the final whistle give a lie to anyone who feels this tournament is beneath them and should give hope to Aston Villa, England’s entrants next season.
At the centre of it, all was Rice. There was no thought of his future as he lapped up the adulation of the fans who have followed his journey from rising academy star to full England honours.
The victory also seals a place in next season’s Europa League and means European football for the third year running for the first time in the club’s history.
Declan Rice to leave West Ham
It means captain Declan Rice, in probably his final game for the club, emulated club greats Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds by leading the club to glory.
Moore captained West Ham to the 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup and Bonds led them to the FA Cup in 1975 and 1980.
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Declan Rice has two years left on his deal at West Ham and David Sullivan says “three or four clubs have shown an interest”; he expects the offers to come imminently for the 24-year-old England midfielder; Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Man Utd are understood to be interested in Rice.
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“I think it has to be. We promised him he could go. “He set his heart on going and in due course he has to get on and we have to get a replacement.
“It is not something we wanted to happen. We offered him £200,000 a week 18 months ago and he turned it down. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.
“I think the offers will start to come [on Thursday]. Three or four clubs have shown interest but out of respect to West Ham, while we’re still playing, you don’t make offers for players.”
