David Moyes has said it would be arguably the biggest achievement of his career if he leads West Ham past AZ Alkmaar and into the Europa Conference League final.
West Ham, who have not won a major trophy since 1980, will start as favourites when they host AZ in the first leg of their semi-final on Thursday night. They have the chance to end a difficult season on a high and Moyes, who has never lifted a major trophy as a manager, pointed to how emotional José Mourinho was after helping Roma win the Conference League last season.
“To get to a European final, it could be my best [achievement],” West Ham’s manager said. “In the past I’ve got to a Champions League quarter-final with Manchester United, lost on penalties in the quarter-final of the Europa League with Everton and last year we reached a semi-final here at West Ham.
“I want to try and take it a couple of steps further, and I would refer back to the serial winner José Mourinho – who found winning this trophy so special for him and his football club. If ever I needed somebody to show how hard it was to win a trophy, and he treated it as if it was so important.”
West Ham are on a high after going one step closer to securing Premier League survival when they beat Manchester United last Sunday. Moyes is grateful that the club’s board stood by him when he was under pressure earlier in the campaign.
“I would say the board have been clever and I hope they realise – and people outside the club realise – that they have come to the right decision,” he said. “The support I’ve had from David Sullivan, Karren Brady and the Gold family has been great. Despite all the outside noise they have been incredibly supportive.”
Moyes will not underestimate Pascal Jansen’s young AZ side, who are fourth in the Eredivisie. He wants West Ham, who have been boosted by Kurt Zouma recovering from an ankle injury, to learn from the disappointment of losing their Europa League semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt last season.
West Ham conceded in the first minute of the first leg against Frankfurt and lost Aaron Cresswell to an early red card in the return game. The tie ended with Moyes being sent from the touchline after kicking a ball at a ballboy.
