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West Ham have beaten AZ Alkmaar 1-0 to reach the final of the Conference League, ending the dream of Socceroos captain and goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
Substitute Pablo Formals scored a breakaway goal in stoppage time as the Hammers secured victory in the Netherlands on Thursday to book a place in the final after a 3-1 aggregate triumph.
The goal prompted ugly scenes at the final whistle with West Ham players and coaching staff trying to stop AZ ultras from attacking away fans behind the dug-out.
David Moyes’ men are through to a European club competition final for the first time in almost a half century after a 2-1 win in the first leg in London last week and the last-gasp triumph in the return leg.
West Ham, who won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and finished runners-up in the same competition in 1976, put up a dogged showing despite looking tired and spending much of the same time chasing their hosts.
However, Socceroos captain Ryan was forced to make a fine save to deny Declan Rice, pawing away an effort from the touring team’s skipper.
After the match Rice and others had to leap over advertising hoardings and try to prevent hooligans from attacking West Ham friends and family in the area behind the dug-out.
It was not a nice ending but when the dust settles Rice, destined to leave West Ham this summer, will know he now has the chance to join Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds as the only captains to lift a major trophy for the club.
The final is in Prague on June 7 against Fiorentina, who scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time in extra time to defeat Swiss side FC Basel.
In the other competition, AS Roma earned a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in their Europa League semi-final return leg to reach the final with a 1-0 aggregate win.
The Rome side has now reached back-to-back European finals under coach Jose Mourinho following last season’s Europa Conference League title. It will be the Portuguese’s sixth European Final in total, dating back to his 2003 win with Porto over Celtic.
The visitors were on the backfoot for the entire game and had to survive intense pressure from the Germans, who missed a lot of chances and also hit the woodwork, as they advanced thanks to last week’s 1-0 win in Italy.
They will play Sevilla, who beat Juventus 2-1 (3-2 on aggregate), in the final on May 31 in Budapest.
It all started well for Leverkusen, looking to reach their first European final in 21 years.
Apart from a second-minute chance for Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini, the hosts had the upper hand in the first half with a dozen efforts on goal compared to their opponents’ one.
Moussa Diaby rattled the crossbar with a powerful shot in the 12th minute and Kerem Demirbay’s low drive in the 21st was saved by goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
The visitors tried to push up a bit higher in the second half to intercept Leverkusen’s attacks earlier but the hosts kept finding ways to create chances.
Demirbay forced another good save in the 67th from Patricio, who thought he was beaten by Sardar Azmoun minutes later only for the Iranian’s shot to sail just wide.
Leverkusen had 23 efforts on goal but it was Mourinho’s Roma that went through even if they had just the one effort on goal in the entire game.
“All that was missing was a goal,” said Leverkusen’s Demirbay. “We did not have that bit of luck. It was bitter not to be rewarded for such a performance. But I am proud of the way we played.”
In Spain, the other semi-final between Sevilla and Juve went to extra-time after a 1-1 draw made it 2-2 over two legs.
Substitute Erik Lamela then headed in on 95 minutes to send the record six-times winners back to the final and prevent an all-Italian showdown.
Juve’s Dusan Vlahovic had struck on 65 minutes from Adrien Rabiot’s assist but fellow substitute Suso levelled in fine style from distance on 72 to force the 30 minutes more.
In the Premier League, Newcastle are just one win away from a return to the Champions League.
The Saudi-controlled club beat Brighton 4-1 on Thursday to strengthen their hold on third place in the Premier League.
Three more points will guarantee Newcastle a top-four finish and an automatic spot in Europe’s premier club event, a competition the club last played in 20 years ago.
The team’s remaining games are at home to next-to-last Leicester and away to Chelsea.
Brighton striker Deniz Undav had an eventful game at St James’ Park, glancing Kieran Trippier’s inswinging corner into his own net to give Newcastle the lead in the 23rd minute.
Trippier had a key role in the second goal, too, as he curled in a free kick that was nodded in by tall left back Dan Burn in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Undav made amends for his own goal – Brighton’s league-high sixth of the season – by running onto Billy Gilmour’s defence-splitting pass and converting a finish to reduce the deficit in the 51st.
Callum Wilson ensured there was no way back with a goal on the breakaway in the 89th and he set up Bruno Guimaraes for a fourth two minutes later.
The loss for sixth-place Brighton all but ends their top-four hopes, leaving Roberto De Zerbi’s team to focus on finishing in fifth or sixth place and getting into the Europa League.
De Zerbi rotated his lineup, dropping Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister to the bench, and expressed concerns his squad wasn’t strong enough to cope with such fixture congestion.
“We have too many injuries and we have to think about this,” De Zerbi said. “We are not in the best condition to play four games in 12 days and I had to think in a different way. I think in Newcastle’s stadium, we can lose the game.”
Newcastle’s players might have already done enough to secure a place in the Champions League qualification places.
Liverpool are four points back in fifth and the only team that can stop them, but they would likely have to beat Aston Villa and Southampton in their two remaining games just to stand a chance.
“It is still so far away,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who didn’t want to talk about his team’s Champions League chances.
“When it’s done,” he added, “I’ll talk about it for fun if you want.”
© AAP
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