JAKARTA – West Ham United made Freiburg their sacrifice to get a ticket to the Europa League quarter-finals. In the second duel of the round of 16 at the London Stadium, Friday, March 15 2024, WIB, West Ham destroyed Freiburg 5-0.
A big win that immediately took West Ham to the quarter-finals. The reason is, the London club is ahead 5-1 on aggregate.
In the first match at home to Freiburg, the Hammers lost 1-0. This makes West Ham have to work hard to serve representatives from the German Bundesliga.
As a result, Lucas Paqueta’s quick goal became the starting point for West Ham’s brilliant performance. Next, Mohammed Kudus scored two goals which sank Freiburg.
In that duel, manager David Moyes had prepared his team to play offensively. They immediately hit the Freiburg defense.
The host’s efforts gave positive results. The match had only been running for nine minutes, midfielder Lucas Paqueta opened West Ham’s victory party.
The goal came from Aaron Cresswell’s corner kick which was met by Tomas Soucek. The ball then went to Paqueta who immediately fired a shot into the top corner of the goal.
Winning 1-0, West Ham players are increasingly enthusiastic. Not long after, or to be precise in the 33rd minute, they managed to increase their lead.
This time, it was winger Jarrod Bowen who beat goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. Score 2-0 to West Ham and lasted until halftime.
In the second half, West Ham did not reduce the tempo of the game. As a result, the 2023 Europa Conference League champions increased their lead when Cresswell scored a goal in the 52nd minute.
Furthermore, it was difficult for the hosts to catch Freiburg. Moreover, there were no dangerous attacks from the visiting team so they had difficulty chasing down the goal deficit.
West Ham actually added a goal through Kudus. The winger for the Ghana national team immediately scored a brace which completed the team’s victory.
Kudus’s first goal came in the 77th minute. He showed brilliant action before shaking Freiburg’s net.
Meanwhile, the next goal came in the 85th minute. The 23-year-old player’s hard shot which received an assist from Bowen penetrated Freiburg’s goal.
The score changed to 5-0 for West Ham and lasted until the end of the match.