West Ham United manager David Moyes reflected upon "a brilliant achievement" after his side surged into the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-0 triumph over Freiburg at the London Stadium.
It was a fixture that had the makings of a European classic for the Hammers, fighting to overcome the 1-0 deficit from their trip to Freiburg im Breisgau last week. With rally cries aplenty, West Ham fed from the electric atmosphere in east London to produce a sensational performance.
Lucas Paqueta levelled the aggregate score in the 9th-minute; Jarrod Bowen's perseverance was awarded with a place on the scoresheet before the break; followed by Aaron Cresswell's left-footed strike into the bottom corner seven minutes after the interval.
However, on a night where everyone in claret and blue pulled their weight, it was Mohammed Kudus that shone brightest as he produced a goal of the season contender before adding a second late on to secure a convincing win and a place in Friday's draw.
Moyes spoke of an unhappiness from last week's result that fuelled their turnaround during his post-match press conference.
“[I’m] hugely pleased with the goals and the level of performance, and how well the players done tonight," He said.
"We were really unhappy from the first game as all the staff, the players, we thought we shouldn’t have come out with the result we had. We had to live with that and try put it right and tonight we did."
Exceeding Expectations
When the 60-year-old returned to take over at the helm in east London, the club had just lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, a result that saw Manuel Pellegrini's tenure come to a close, and sat one point above the drop zone in 17th-place.
Since, the Hammers have gone to qualify for Europe; reach a Europa League semi-final, agonisingly losing to Eintracht Frankfurt over two legs; before winning their first major honour in 43 years as they lifted the Europa Conference League in Prague last year.
Now preparations begin for another European quarter-final battle - their third in successive seasons. Moyes was full of praise for what the club achieved since his return to east London.
"I think for West Ham [United] Football Club to have three years in a row in quarter-finals of a European competition, from where we've come from, a team that was avoiding relegation, first of all, to actually make Europe, then do it the second year, then to win a trophy and for us to be in another quarter-final is a brilliant achievement.
"The whole club have moved on so much in the last few years, it’s hard to point out how good it’s been, because, for a long time, it’s been not in the strongest position, and we want to make it better if we can.”
The Scottish manager was unsure if he had created a personal piece of club history in reaching the last eight. Irrespective, he confessed that even he could not have pictured what would go on to be achieved within five years of walking back through the doors at Rush Green.
"In truth I couldn’t envisage it either," he said.
"When I came in I said that I don’t want to be manager of a team at the bottom of the league, I want to be managing a team challenging higher up. In the main, we’ve been that. We've had our moments.
"I don’t know I’d use the word ‘proud’, but I’m really, really pleased I’ve been able to give West Ham something, and the players, we’ve brought in good players, and the crowd are seeing tonight, for example, Kudus' performance, everybody's aware of what Paqueta can do, Bowen as well - from coming from a lower league club is now an England international.
"If you look at the journey, even that, and I know European football is probably the focus tonight, but there’s an awful a lot of good things happened in the last few years at West Ham."
Kudus' 'Roy of the Rovers' Moment
In the aftermath of scoring a sensational individual goal that left all in attendance at the London Stadium in a state of disbelief, Kudus proceeded to take a steward's seat, placed it in front of the celebrating support, and took a momentary pause.
As team-mates swamped him in the corner and Vladimir Coufal polished his 'golden' right foot, the one he finished his 60-yard run with, it afford everyone the chance to grasp the piece of footballing brilliance they had just witnessed.
Freiburg's attempt to regain an ounce of dignity became short-lived as Manuel Gulde's careless pass in West Ham's half was retrieved by the 23-year-old. With the visitors caught in transition, Kudus drove forward and kept driving, steering past those attempting to stop his progression.
As he closed in on the area, he slipped the ball through Gulde's legs, imposing further misery on a forgettable night for the centre-back, before sliding the ball past an oncoming Noah Atubolu to put the hosts 4-0 ahead in the 77th-minute.
Kudus went on to score another fine goal in the latter stages of the match to make it a five-star performance. Following a disappointing performance in the first leg, Moyes praised the Ghana international, comparing it to one that would be described in a late 20th-century novel.
“If any of you can remember [the] dribbling wingers that used to run and take people on, snakey hips and find their way through - that was a little bit of that tonight.
"It was a brilliant individual goal – really ‘Roy of the Rovers’ type goal."