It was a huge night and the Hammers were outstanding as we cruised to an amazing with over Freiburg as David Moyes turned on the style .
Some wonderful goals – notably Mo Kudus’ – and a performance which is exactly what the fans have been screaming for over the last months.
Credit to Moyes. He has listened presumably and demonstrated last night the best form of defence is attack with five goals thudding into the opposition’s net.
Trailing by the single goal from Germany, the Hammers Lucas Paquetá tapped in from close range within nine minutes, before Jarrod Bowen snatched his Club-record tenth European strike.
Aaron Cresswell’s first goal for almost two years settled any nerves within London Stadium not long into the second half before the outsanding Mohammed Kudus stole the show with a couple.
Having celebrated wildly as the Irons delivered another special European night, Moyes explained how excited he is to be in the latter stages of the Europa League once again, with the draw for the remainder of the competition set to take place at 12noon GMT on Friday.
And afterwards Moyes said: We don’t score five too often, but we scored really good goals tonight. Mo [Kudus] scored a couple of brilliant goals, Jarrod Bowen] as well, and I think getting off to a good early start with the Lucas Paquetá strike settled us down well.
The players who we rely on to get the goals did just that tonight, so I’m really pleased. We need our big players on big nights, and everyone who was out there certainly stood up to the task tonight.
Kudus’ first was a great, great goal. Fans of a slightly older generation might remember a player called Jimmy Johnstone, who was an unbelievable player for Celtic. Mo reminded me of him when he was snaking through their defence.
It was brilliant, and then he slotted in another to make it five, so I’m really pleased for him. He put in a great performance.
David Moyes turned on the style
It’s been a great day for Jarrod, but it’s nothing more than he deserves.
It’s great he’s scored, and it’s great he’s getting recognised for England because he’s been unbelievable this season. We put him back on the right-hand side tonight and he’s still popped up with a goal.
All the boys up front did their bit, including Michail Antonio. He’s missed periods of the season but he caused them lots of problems out there, so I’m really happy for him as well.
The fans gave us a really good backing tonight, and it’s great to get the result for them.
We’ve had three brilliant years of European football, and I hope everyone’s enjoyed it as much as we have.
I know everyone enjoyed last season, and we’ll do everything possible to try and get even a taste of something like that again this year.
We know there are no easy games in this competition, and all the teams left in the last eight are going to be really tough to beat. We know we’re going to have to play well to get through, but we’re confident in our ability and we’ll be full of belief.”