In the lead up to this match, many West Ham supporters had joked of how typical it would be were the Hammers to become the first side to beat Bayer Leverkusen all season and yet still come up short in their quest for a miraculous European comeback from 2-0 down.
Few, in all seriousness, thought it was on the cards. But with a minute of regulation to play at the London Stadium, that looked destined to be the Hammers’s lot, reward if not consolation, for a display of real courage and defiance.
