Scamacca celebrates scoring against Anderlecht

Road to Prague | Group Stage

West Ham United contested 14 ties on the way to reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League final, winning 13 and drawing one.

The Hammers became the first English club to win ten straight UEFA club competition matches, before drawing 1-1 at Belgian side KAA Gent in the first leg of their quarter-final.

A year after a memorable run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League, David Moyes side are hoping to go all the way by winning the Conference League in just the second year of the tournament’s existence when they take on ACF Fiorentina of Italy in Prague, Czechia, on Wednesday 7 June.

Before the big game, let us take a look back at West Ham’s run to the Club's first major European final in 47 years...

 

GROUP STAGE

West Ham United 3-1 FCSB

West Ham United’s Group B campaign got off to a wobbly start when Romanian side FCSB took a shock half-time lead at London Stadium through Andrei Cordea’s 34th-minute strike.

However, a penalty from Jarrod Bowen levelled things up before Emerson and Michail Antonio ensured David Moyes’ men made a winning start on the night the country mourned the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

 

Silkeborg IF 2-3 West Ham United

Danish Superliga side Silkeborg gave the Hammers a stern examination in front of a capacity crowd at their neat and compact 7,000-capacity stadium.

Playing on an artificial surface, the Londoners struggled to contain Silkeborg at times, falling behind to Kasper Kusk’s sixth-minute opener before getting to grips with the conditions and going in 3-1 up at half-time thanks to Manuel Lanzini’s penalty and goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Craig Dawson. Soren Tengstedt set up a nervy finale 15 minutes from time, but the visitors held on.

 

RSC Anderlecht 0-1 West Ham United

The Hammers made it three wins from three with a hard-fought victory in the Belgian capital Brussels.

Gianluca Scamacca was again on target, collecting a lofted pass from Paquetá before spinning and firing low past Anderlecht goalkeeper and captain Hendrik van Crombrugge on 79 minutes.

The home side gave West Ham United some problems, though, with Alphonse Areola called into action to make a fantastic one-handed save to keep out Fábio Silva’s powerful header six minutes from time.

 

West Ham United 2-1 RSC Anderlecht

West Ham United were made to work hard for the three points by Anderlecht again when the Belgians visited London Stadium in mid-October.

Saïd Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen put the Irons two goals up inside half-an-hour, but Anderlecht stuck to their task and set up a nervy final few minutes when Italian Sebastiano Esposito fired in from the penalty spot late on.

 

West Ham United 1-0 Silkeborg IF

As they had done in Denmark six weeks previously, Silkeborg proved worthy opponents for West Ham United in east London.

The visitors, managed by former Aston Villa and Denmark defender Kent Neilsen, proved resolute and determined, and it took a first-half penalty from Manuel Lanzini to see them off by a single goal.

 

FCSB 0-3 West Ham United

With five wins out of five and a place in the round of 16 already secured, David Moyes made significant changes to his squad for the trip to Bucharest on matchday six.

A host of senior regulars were left back in London, as 16-year-old Ollie Scarles and 18-year-old Divin Mubama were both handed starts in Romania.

Scarles impressed at left wing-back, while forward Mubama was only denied a goal when his header was deflected in by Joyskim Dawa eleven minutes after half-time.

By that stage, Pablo Fornals had put West Ham Unite in front, before the Spaniard completed the scoring midway through the second half.

 

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