West Ham United’s superior ‘quality’ made the difference as a Michail Antonio brace secured a 2-0 win away from home in the UEFA Conference League last-16 first-leg, AEK Larnaca coach Jose Luis Oltra says in quotes reported by Goal.
It may not be the Champions League. It may not even be the Europa League. But the continent’s third-tier competition is still providing a welcome distraction from the Hammers’ relegation fears.
David Moyes’ side won all six of their group-stage games and maintained their 100 per cent Conference League record with a rather comfortable 2-0 win in Cyprus on Thursday evening.
Antonio netted twice; guiding a precise header into the corner before bending in a sumptuous second on the stroke of half-time.
Michail Antonio scores twice as West Ham beat AEK Larnaca
“The first 30 minutes we were good,” Oltra reflects. “We pressed high, we competed, we won corners. After two mistakes in defence, we conceded the goals.
“(West Ham) have very good players. They don’t need to play very well or create many chances to score.”
The usual suspects – Declan Rice, Said Benrahma, Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd – started alongside Antonio. But Moyes also shuffled his pack to an extent; Flynn Downes, Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini coming into the starting XI.
There was also a long-awaited first appearance since October for Maxwel Cornet, the summer signing continuing his comeback after a lengthy injury absence.
“I can’t say I’m happy because of the result,” Oltra adds. “But my team played very good football. The opposition have a lot of quality and punish mistakes. In this case, they punished ours.
“I am proud of both my football players and our fans that support us in every game. If we look at the stats, we will see that we had possession, we had 14 corners and West Ham had none. I am proud of my team.
“Antonio scored two goals but that’s football.”
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