West Ham players hailed as ‘extraordinary’ by Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui
West Ham United will welcome Sevilla to the London Stadium for the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday.
The Spaniards are 1-0 to the good after the first leg but face a stern test when they head to the London Stadium with David Moyes’ side out for revenge.
Los Rojiblancos’ manager Julen Lopetegui is a big fan of the squad the Hamers have at their disposal as he reiterated in his pre-match press conference.
“I am expecting we will play a team with extraordinary players who will create difficulties for us,” he said, as quoted by Football London.
“They can cause damage in many ways, [Said] Benrahma, [Nikola] Vlasic, [Michail] Antonio, [Pablo] Fornals are really good players.
“[Declan] Rice, [Manuel] Lanzini, so many good players. The set pieces are dangerous as well so the most important thing is what we do, our job is the most important.”
“All I can say is we are looking forward to a great match tomorrow and we do not look any further than that.”
Now or never
There’s no room for an off-day now for the Irons; if they want to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League and keep their hopes of glory alive, they must perform tomorrow.
Moyes is once again without star attacker Jarrod Bowen but the rest of his side remain available for selection and it could be the most important team sheet Moyes has ever submitted.
He has to get his selection absolutely spot on and the pressure will be on given Lopetegui’s experience on the European stage compared to the Scot’s.
The 60,000 in attendance at the London Stadium tomorrow need to be in full voice too because your support is going to be just as influential as the XI Moyes selects.
Lopetegui’s rave reviews of the Hammers stars might be glowing to those players but those that went unmentioned might be able to use his comments as fuel to prove him wrong which may well impact Moyes’ selection too.
In other West Ham news, an Irons target’s agent has admitted that he is in talks with clubs over his client’s future but didn’t name them.
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook for 24/7 updates on the Hammers plus more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie.