In the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal against Bayer Leverkusen, David Moyes’s West Ham is “still in the tie” despite two goals in the last minutes ending in defeat for his team.
After the visitors failed to clear a corner with seven minutes left, Jonas Hofmann rifled through a mass of bodies for Xabi Alonso’s team.
In the opening minute of injury time, Hofmann’s cross was met with a well-directed header from Victor Boniface, who doubled the lead.
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Alonso’s team controlled the majority of the play, but up until Hofmann’s late save, they were mainly frustrated by a very well-organized Hammers defence.
In the second leg, Moyes told TNT Sports, “we have half a chance.”
It will require some effort because they are a very skilled team. You can never predict what will occur.
“Let us attempt to obtain one and then attempt to obtain two. Next week, we’ll get back up and hopefully rally the support of the public.”
For the majority of the match, the visitors displayed excellent discipline to minimise Leverkusen’s opportunities while simultaneously posing a threat on the counter thanks to Michail Antonio’s quickness and strength.
Antonio broke down the left and squared for Mohammed Kudus, who scored a goal, but Matej Kovar, the Leverkusen custodian, easily stopped the Ghanaian striker’s effort. This was undoubtedly the greatest chance of the first half.
Lukasz Fabianski had to make a few extremely deft saves for West Ham to hold off Leverkusen for as long as they did.
In the first half, the 38-year-old custodian made a great save to deny Patrick Schick, then in the second, appearing to be caught off guard, he leaped to tip the striker’s header over the crossbar.
Finally, Hofmann was able to get past Fabianski, and Leverkusen’s unbeaten streak reached 42 games when Boniface nodded in the second.
