West Ham United edged closer to the final of this season’s Europa Conference League with a 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their semi-final clash at the London Stadium on Thursday night.
The Hammers had to do it the hard way after going 1-0 down before half-time thanks to Tijjani Reijnders’ controversial opening goal. Said Benrahma levelled the tie from the penalty spot midway through the second half, before Michail Antonio poked home a crucial first leg winning goal 15 minutes from time.
As West Ham continued their 13-match unbeaten run in Europe this season, here are five of the major talking points from the 2-1 loss.
READ MORE: Every word David Moyes said on West Ham’s AZ Alkmaar fixture, Europe dreams and Frankfurt loss
Doing it the hard way
Despite West Ham entering the game 15th in the Premier League and Eredivisie outfit Alkmaar sat fourth in their league, the Hammers went into the second leg tie not only as favourites to progress to the final, but as favourites to go on and win the competition as a whole.
Roared on by a bouncing London Stadium atmosphere, West Ham showed early signs of giving the home fans something to cheer about, although for all of the directness of Jarrod Bowen, Antonio and Benrahma going forward, they could not get attacks and chances to stick early on.
It took for Benrahma to run onto and unleash a first-team strike from just outside of the penalty area to give West Ham’s fans something to cheer about, lashing a well-hit effort on goal that was only denied by a superb diving stop from AZ’s ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
AZ showed signs of promise but found themselves restricted to shots from range, with Alphonse Areola given a fairly simple list of tasks to complete on the night, one which he did not quite fully get done.
Alkmaar took the lead in controversial circumstances with less than five minutes of the first half remaining. After Lucas Paqueta jumped up for a header on the edge of Alkmaar’s box, he was shoved in the back by AZ’s Sam Beukema, with Turkish referee Halit Umut Meler waving play on. Alkmaar countered and 16 seconds later, Reijnders’ long-range effort bounced in front of and caught out Areola, with Alkmaar taking the lead against the run of play.
Paqueta, keen to make amends after being fouled in the build-up to Alkmaar’s goal, managed to flick a Benrahma cross on target with his head, but to little effect as Ryan gathered comfortably.
West Ham started the second half in the same manner they ended the first, as if they had had the stuffing taken out of them, not just from going behind but the manner of it, taking them until the hour mark before showing signs of life. Nayef Aguerd’s long pass was flicked on by Paqueta for Bowen, who cut inside onto his left foot and fired wide from range.
Bowen and Paqueta would link-up again minutes later, via Tomas Soucek’s header, to win West Ham a penalty with less than 25 minutes remaining, giving them a lifeline in the first leg, with Bowen beating Ryan to the ball and getting a punch to the face for his troubles. Benrahma, taking his fifth penalty of the season, continued his career record of 100% accuracy from 12 yards. While Australian Ryan guessed where the Algerian would put the spot kick, there was little he could do to keep out Benrahma’s well-hit equaliser.
Set-pieces would prove to be good for West Ham again minutes later, this time, from a corner, as West Ham got their winning goal 15 minutes from time. Bowen’s corner was shouldered away by the returning Kurt Zouma, with Declan Rice quickly taking control. His dinked cross was met by Aguerd, whose header was backheeled off the line by Yukinari Sugawara, only for Antonio to volley in two yards from goal to seal a first leg win.
Really, West Ham could and should have been, with three late chances involving substitute Danny Ings.
He first exchanged a good move down the left side with Benrahma, cutting back to tee him up, only for the Algerian to blast his chance over.
Bowen then made two chances for Ings in quick succession, but Ings was unable to get on the end of either, first seeing a low cross race through the six-yard box without being able to run onto it and finish. Then, Bowen’s cross was unable to find the head of Ings, who in a cameo of just over ten minutes, could have scored two late on.
Just like the Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt last season, West Ham have gone about it in the hard way, but they do find themselves ahead going into next week’s second leg, knowing that all they need to do to set up a European final in Prague is not lose, a task easier said than done.
Lucas Paqueta unable to hide anger
Paqueta and the rest of his teammates were left bewildered as another big refereeing decision went against his side in the win over Alkmaar, a goal which could still prove to have a major effect on the game.
Yes, there were 16 seconds between the shove on Paqueta and the goal from Reijnders, but still, Alkmaar would have not won the ball back and started the move that led to the goal.
As soon as Areola was beaten from range, a number of West Ham players, including Paqueta, Rice, Soucek and Aaron Cresswell all ran towards referrer Meler, but to little luck.
In the protest, Paqueta was pictured clapping at the referee in frustration over how influential the decision proved to be.
Like the penalty West Ham should have had against Manchester United four days earlier for a Victor Lindelof handball, the Hammers will hope that the decision does not come back to haunt them. For now at least, if the scoreline stays the same next week, it will not prove to be a crushing blow in the Hammers’ European dream.
Said Benrahma’s reliability
Winger Benrahma is very much a divided figure among supporters. At his best, he is one of West Ham’s most gifted players, best scorers and best creators. Off his best, he can be a very frustrating player to watch.
With important goals in two straight games, Benrahma now has 11 for the season in all competitions and of that tally, five have come in the exact same manner - from 12 yards out.
Taking his fifth penalty of the season, Benrahma scored his fifth spot-kick this term and has so far, come out on top on all five attempts, keeping up a career record of an 100% success rate from the spot.
Benrahma had not taken a penalty for West Ham until their win over Bournemouth in October and since then, barring Paqueta taking the ball off him against Gent last month, has been West Ham’s primary penalty taker and can give Moyes confidence that he will score every time he steps up.
For a player often discussed and critiqued for his spells in and out of form, often by Moyes himself, he has shown one area where his standards have not dipped.
Michail Antonio’s records
Antonio’s close-range volley in the 75th minute gives West Ham the advantage and momentum going into next Thursday’s second leg in Alkmaar and not only did it seal a win, it was also a landmark goal for two reasons.
The 33-year-old netted his 14th goal of the season for West Ham in all competitions, making this season his best ever haul for goals in a single season since joining the club in 2015.
It also saw him go one goal clear of teammate Bowen to reinstate his position as West Ham’s all-time leading goalscorer in Europe with nine goals across the Europa League and Europa Conference League, seven of which have come in this season’s European run.
Antonio was fortunate to break both records, as Ings was about to replace him just as he volleyed home, with the goal delaying Ings' arrival by a few minutes.
Antonio may be on his lowest total of Premier League goals since the 2017/18 campaign, but he is still delivering across the board and even though it may not seem like it domestically, in Europe, his goals, especially in the knockout rounds, have made a big difference.
A job still to do
While West Ham are ahead, they are by no means certain winners of this tie just yet, having to head to Alkmaar and get a result to ensure that they are in next month’s Europa Conference League final.
Alkmaar have form for turning around deficits in home second legs in the Europa Conference League, coming from 2-0 down in the last round in the second leg against Anderlecht before sealing a semi-final win via a penalty shootout.
For Alkmaar, the second leg will be their 18th match in the competition this season and at home, they boast a good record, both in Europe and domestically.
In Europe, AZ have won their last eight home matches and have not lost in any of their 23 home matches in Europe, with their last coming in a 4-1 defeat to Olympique Lyonnais in the Europa League over six years ago.
Across the whole campaign, AZ have played 24 times at home this season and have only lost three times, one of which was an extra-time defeat to Utecht in the KNVB Cup.
In history, AZ have hosted teams from England in European tournament matches in eight times, losing just once against an Everton side managed by Moyes, who will be hoping for a similar result next week.
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