West Ham United’s Jarrod Bowen spoke of how their win against Manchester United has given his team a huge confidence boost ahead of their Europa Conference League clash with AZ Alkmaar, Voetbal International reports.
AZ’s semi-final opponents are heading into the match in good form after picking a big win against United at the London Stadium, where the first leg will be held.
The Irons secured a huge victory at the weekend against ten Hag’s side in the Premier League with three points all but confirming they have survived relegation this season.
Bowen, who missed out on a call-up to the World Cup due to his form dipping this season, said the result was a huge boost for them going into this match
“Sunday’s result was of course very important for the whole club and gives us a lot of confidence going into Thursday’s game,” Bowen said.
Last season, West Ham were knocked out by eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The forward – who saw a last-winner attempt to stay in that match last season hit the woodwork – hopes to turn the pain of the past into motivation for now.
He added: “It will be quite a task. You don’t just get into the semi-finals, there are no bad teams. We know it”s going to be tough in two games. But we’re ready.”
The Hammers have picked up a European Cup Winners’ Cup and the Intertoto Cup in their history but have not been successful on the pitch in terms of other European trophies since then.
Head coach David Moyes has already spoken about how much he wants to take them to the final in Prague and Bowen has opened up to say he knows how important a European final is for the fans.
He said: “It would be great. For everyone involved in this club. That is our goal, our ambition. But there”s still a long way to go.
“I”m not going to lie,” Bowen responded to the question of what he knows about AZ. “I”m not going to say that I already know everything about them. But we’ve done our homework. We’ve watched them. They beat some big clubs to get here. We know it”s going to be tough.”
