West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui and goalscorer Tomas Soucek dedicated Monday night’s 2-1 victory over Wolves to Michail Antonio.
Hammers players came out of the tunnel wearing jackets with Antonio’s name and number on the back, in tribute to the West Ham striker after he underwent surgery on a lower limb fracture sustained in a car accident on Saturday afternoon. Antonio was airlifted to hospital, where he is now recovering.
From his hospital bed the striker watched the game, which was dubbed ‘El Sackico’ due to managers Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil both being considered close to getting the sack at their respective clubs.
Jarrod Bowen scored the winning goal just three minutes after Matt Doherty had cancelled out Soucek’s headed opener.
“Today we dedicate the victory to Michail and his family,” said Lopetegui. “It has been very tough days. We love Mike a lot. He is a special player and a special person for us. I am sure that he is strong and he is going to overcome this and come back.”
The West Ham players shared a video call in the dressing room with Antonio before kick-off at the London Stadium.
“He was — okay, not in his best moment — in good humour,” said Lopetegui. “It was a special moment for us before the match.
“It is always important. Each victory is important, three points, and against a good team — a special team for me too.
“Today I think we deserved to win. That’s my opinion. We had a lot of chances, a lot of corners, and fortunately we took advantage of one of them [a corner, for Soucek’s goal].”
Soucek, whose goal was his third in the league this season, said of Antonio: “The goal was for him. I dedicated it to him. I said before the game I really wanted to score even more today. He's been here since I came here. He is really my favourite. I said it would be tough for me to play without him.”
The Czech midfielder added: “I am happy that he is doing fine, but this is for him. He is a massive player and he is in my heart. It was really tough for us.
“I was with [my] kids and I saw this information on the phone. I messaged everyone asking what happened and how he was. I was so scared what was going to happen. It was a really tough week for him, his family and us.
“We had a video call with him, the whole team, before the game. He smiled to us and gave us all the best. I can't wait to visit him. He is a really lovely guy and also funny. He even made a few jokes before the game and he wished us all the best.”
