Vladimir Coufal has urged his West Ham team-mates to seize their rare chance to deliver European silverware, insisting few clubs can bank on reeling off trophies like Manchester City.
The Hammers continue their Europa Conference League campaign in Belgium tonight, when they take on Gent in the quarter-final first leg.
David Moyes’s side have endured a dismal domestic campaign so far and are locked in a relegation battle but have been superb in Europe, winning 10 matches out of 10.
That run has left them on the brink of a second successive European semi-final and, beyond that, within sight of only the fifth major trophy in the club’s history.
The Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’ have dominated domestic cup competitions in recent seasons, winning 12 of the last 14 FA Cups and every League Cup since Swansea’s triumph a decade ago, and Coufal believes his side cannot afford to let this opening slide by.
“A trophy is something special,” Coufal said. “You can finish sixth or seventh in the Premier League and it’s a big success for West Ham, but to lift a trophy means something else, something extra.
“It’s important and not everyone is good enough to play for Manchester City, Liverpool or a team like this to win trophies. Maybe I am not good enough to play for those teams, but I am good enough to play for West Ham and I am doing everything I can to lift the trophy here. For me it would be the best trophy I could win, for sure.”
The Hammers came close to ending what is now a 43-year trophy drought when reaching the semi-finals of last season’s Europa League, only to suffer heartache at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt. “When you lose a game like this last season, it’s still in my head,” Coufal added.
“We were very close to the final and you never know what could’ve happened. I could’ve been sitting here as a Europa League winner. Now I’m sitting here as a semi-finalist, so it’s a big difference.
“Winning a trophy is something extra and every player wants to experience this. It’s still in my head, but me and team-mates are doing everything to repair the semi-final loss from last season and lift the trophy.”
