West Ham 4-1 Gent (Agg 5-2): David Moyes hails Declan Rice after 'Roy of the Rovers' goal

1 year ago 41

West Ham's Declan Rice celebrates his stunning solo extremity against Gent

It was a extremity that volition unrecorded agelong successful the representation of everyone astatine London Stadium.

Declan Rice won the shot successful the West Ham fractional earlier exchanging passes with Lucas Paqueta, moving fractional the magnitude of the transportation and sending a debased changeable into the bottommost country past Gent goalkeeper Davy Roef.

The midfielder's infinitesimal of brilliance enactment the Hammers 3-1 up connected the nighttime successful their Europa Conference League quarter-final to easiness each nerves aft a disastrous commencement saw the visitors instrumentality a daze lead.

West Ham yet cruised into the semi-final 5-2 connected aggregate, mounting up a last-four necktie against Dutch broadside AZ Alkmaar and leaving the location fans celebrating reaching a European semi-final for the 5th clip successful their history.

Rice's publication is bound to trigger much speculation astir the aboriginal of the 24-year-old, who, contempt being nether declaration for different season, has been heavy linked with Arsenal.

"If anybody didn't deliberation helium could bash that, they are wholly naïve and don't ticker america adjacent enough," Moyes said.

"He is immoderate player. That is wherefore we worth him truthful highly. It was a Roy of the Rovers-type goal.

"He has truthful galore parts to his game, helium doesn't ever amusement them. He has a bully property but helium could amusement it adjacent more.

"His experiences with England person been huge. I tin spot him erstwhile helium comes back, helium has grown quicker and bigger, getting a accidental to enactment alongside the prime of players they person got, and a large coaching staff, volition bash Declan the satellite of good."

It was lone Rice's 3rd extremity of the play and his archetypal successful Europe since the Europa League quarter-final second-leg triumph implicit Lyon 12 months ago.

"When I prime the shot up successful those positions and person abstraction to thrust into, I consciousness good," Rice told BT Sport. "That's erstwhile I consciousness I'm astatine my best.

"It doesn't hap each the time, truthful it decidedly goes down arsenic 1 of my champion goals for West Ham. I didn't adjacent cognize however to celebrate."

The gathering with AZ gives West Ham a accidental to atone for their Europa League semi-final decision by Eintracht Frankfurt past season.

And, portion determination is intelligibly enactment up for Moyes and his players to unafraid Premier League safety, the Scot said helium would let them to "enjoy it" for an hour.

He had besides calmed down aft a bizarre bid of events astir West Ham's second-half penalty, which yet proved decisive.

On the touchline, Moyes expected Said Benrahma to instrumentality the 55th-minute spot-kick.

Instead, Paqueta seized the inaugural from the Algerian arsenic helium tried to atone for his mistake successful gifting Gent their opener.

The Brazilian hardly inspired assurance with a curved run-up, which included a stutter.

But to Moyes' alleviation helium recovered the extortion of the nett to enactment the Hammers up connected the nighttime - oblivious to his manager putting his caput successful his hands astatine 1 stage.

"I thought Said would instrumentality it," said the Hammers boss.

"There is simply a inclination astatine the infinitesimal for the idiosyncratic who is not taking it to locomotion distant with the ball, truthful I had nary interest on.

"I person seen Lucas taking penalties successful training. He has a benignant which is interesting, oregon nerve-wracking if you are a manager. It was captious we scored."

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