West Ham United captain Declan Rice was full of praise for Pablo Fornals whose goal sealed his side’s Europa Conference League semi-final win over AZ Alkmaar.
With the second leg goalless, and AZ trailing 2-1 on an aggregate and pushing for an equaliser, Fornals finished off a counter with a late strike into the bottom corner to send West Ham into their first major European final since 1976.
It was his sixth goal of the season and only his second since 9 November, but it sparked joyous celebrations from the Hammers players, staff, and supporters.
“He’s not played as much as he wanted to this year but every time he has come on he has given everything for the badge, for the shirt,” Rice told BT Sport after his side’s 3-1 aggregate win.
Fornals has started 15 of West Ham’s 36 Premier League matches this season, but when it counted, he won the ball back on the halfway line, knocked it through the legs of Jordy Clasie, and buried his shot into the net.
“To score that goal and put it through his legs to send West Ham into the final, his name is going to be written in West Ham history forever,” Rice added:
West Ham manager David Moyes echoed the praise of Fornals. “He is a real team player,” Moyes added. “I think if there was any player I wanted to score today, it would have been Pablo.”
The Hammers have an opportunity to win the first major European trophy since they lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965. Against 1860 Munich at Wembley 58 years ago, West Ham were captained by Bobby Moore in a 2-0 win.
Declan Rice could emulate the World Cup-winning captain when his side take on Fiorentina in their final in Prague on June 7.
“Everyone speaks about Bobby Moore, you hear his name mentioned all the time,” added Rice.
“Of course I am trying to write history with West Ham to be the captain to do that as well but also for the lads as well, I think all of our names will be written into history if we can do this.”
“One more game now, we’ll give it absolutely everything and try to make the fans and our family proud and we’ve done that tonight.”
