PRAGUE: West Ham United ended a 58-year wait for a European trophy after Jarrod Bowen’s dramatic 90th-minute goal secured a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the Eur­opa Conference League final on Wednesday.

The match at Prague’s Eden Arena looked like it was heading to extra time when Lucas Paqueta slipped a ball through to Bowen who outpaced the defenders on a quick counter attack before sending a low shot past a helpless Pietro Terracciano in the Fiorentina goal.

Fiorentina couldn’t answer despite nearly eight minutes of injury time being played, setting off wild celebrations among the West Ham players as they danced in front of their fans after winning the London club’s second ever European title and first since the old European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 with a team including England World Cup heroes Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.

The goal made Bowen the first English player to score the winner in a major European final since Arsenal’s Alan Smith in 1994 and capped a campaign in which West Ham were unbeaten in 15 UEFA Europa Conference League matches.

“You make that run 10 times and you might get it once,” Bowen told BT Sport. “I had a lot of time but I was confident and when I saw it going in, I didn’t know what to do. This was the biggest game of my career.

“I obviously dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last minute. It’s what you always say you want to do. To do it in front of these fans. I thought I was going to cry. I’m just happy.

“We’ve had a dream. We haven’t had the best season, myself included. But to do what we’ve done tonight for these fans … to give them this moment, I’m over the moon.”

West Ham only finished 14th in the Premier League but went unbeaten through their European campaign, coming through qualifying before winning 12 out of 13 games in the tournament.

“I’ve had a long career in football and you don’t get many moments like,” said West Ham coach David Moyes, whose job was under threat earlier in the season as the team was struggling near the relegation zone in the league.

It is Moyes’ first major trophy after a 25-year managerial career that has spanned more than 1,000 games and also included stints at Everton and Manchester United. Moyes became the first Scottish coach to win a UEFA competition since 2008 when Alex Ferguson claimed his second Champions League title with United.

West Ham’s previous major trophy was back in 1980 when they won the FA Cup and Moyes hailed the “incredible” last two years in which his team reached the Europa League semi-final before winning the trophy in Prague.

“Last year we won the group, got to the semi-final, this year we won the group, got unbeaten, now we won the final,” said the 60-year-old Scot.

“It’s been an incredible achievement to do so well in Europe. I’ve been really fortunate, I’ve got a great group of players, I’m with a club who have incredibly supported me.”

Declan Rice, the 24-year-old West Ham captain who played his last game for the club with chairman David Sullivan confirming he will be sold during the summer transfer window, became the second West Ham captain after England great Moore to lift a European trophy.

“When Jarrod ran through on goal I said to myself, ‘this is your time’,” said Rice, who has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal. “And then you see the ball hit the back of the net. I’m still in shock now. Honestly, it’s incredible.”

Both sides struggled to create much in a nervy opening half with Fiorentina controlling possession but lacking a cutting edge in the final third, while West Ham had long spells without the ball.

West Ham took the lead in the 62nd minute when Said Benrahma converted a penalty after a VAR review confirmed a handball by the Italian side’s captain Cristiano Biraghi, who had been a thorn in West Ham’s side with his runs down the flank.

Fiorentina immediately stepped up the pace after going behind and were rewarded five minutes later when Giacomo Bonaventura controlled the ball with two defenders on him and sent an angled shot past West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola.

The champions’ name will be the second ever on the Conference League trophy following Roma, who won the maiden edition of the competition last year.

West Ham have also clinched a spot in next season’s Europa League with the win, while Fiorentina will miss out on European competition after finishing eighth in the Serie A.

“It hurts to lose like this. We played well but we can’t concede such an easy goal in the final minutes. The team gave their all but in certain situations we have to be more concentrated keep controlling the game and pressing. In finals, small details make the difference,” said Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic.

Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano said it hurt to lose his second final in two weeks after the Viola lost to Inter Milan in the Italian Cup final, also 2-1.

“In the future, we will talk about two disappointments in a single season,” he said. “It’s a really big blow. I’m upset because we were really close.”

The supporters of both teams made their presence felt in a noisy atmosphere, though the referee was forced to stop play midway through the opening half after West Ham fans threw cups at Fiorentina’s Biraghi, hitting the defender on the head and drawing blood.

UEFA had allotted only 5,780 tickets to each club, leaving legions of supporters unable to attend the match at Slavia Prague’s stadium with a capacity set at 18,000 for the final.

Many thousands of West Ham supporters instead watched the match in bars and fan zones aground the city.

Before the game, Prague police said they had detained 16 people as Fiorentina fans attacked West Ham supporters in a bar in central Prague. Three people sustained light injuries.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2023