With a pass from Paquetá, West Ham scores at the end and beats Fiorentina in the Conference League decider

In a compromise valid for the decision of the Conference League, the West Ham hit the Fiorentina 2-1 and secured their first cup of the competition. Benrahma and Bowen were responsible for the goals of the title this Thursday, while Bonaventura discounted for the runners up at Eden Arena, in the Czech Republic.

The win marked the end of West Ham’s title drought. The club owned by Brazilian Lucas Paquetá had not lifted a trophy since the defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup, in 1999. The title also guaranteed the Englishmen in the group stage of the next edition of Europa League.

⚒️ West Ham win the Europa Conference League! 🏆#UECLfinal pic.twitter.com/MwKVPmQvaA

— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) June 7, 2023

Fiorentina lost its second final this season. Viola was also defeated two weeks ago in the Italian Cup, against Inter Milan. Interestingly, this had been the last cup of the team, which became champion in 2001.

The final in Prague was only the second in Conference League history. In the first edition, in 2022, José Mourinho’s Roma played for the title against Feyenoord, from the Netherlands, and won. The competition was created as a way to aggregate smaller clubs in Europe, outside the big leagues.

The game

The first half of the decision had a lot of fighting between the two teams, but few chances were created. Jovic even opened the scoring for Fiorentina in extra time, taking advantage of the rebound from Kouame’s header. However, the goal was disallowed for offside.

Already in the second stage, West Ham had a penalty scored in their favor in the 17th minute, when the referee saw Biraghi’s hand touch in the area. Benrahma went for the kick and hit the right corner, displacing goalkeeper Terracciano.

However, five minutes later, Fiorentina managed to react. In a ball launched in the area, González disputed with his head and the ball was left to Bonaventura, who dominated with his left leg and hit with a right cross, tying the match.

As the game looked to be going into extra time, Bowen scored the goal that gave West Ham the title. The striker received a beautiful deep pass from Paquetá and touched Terracciano on the way out, to score in the 45th minute of the second half.