West Ham History: His Name Immortalized

Pablo Fornals’ late strike in the second leg of West Ham’s Europa League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar has sent the Hammers into their first major European final since 1976. His sixth goal of the season sparked joyous celebrations from the players, staff and supporters, with Declan Rice telling BT Sport after the 3-1 aggregate win: “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 added that Fornals’ name will be written into West Ham history forever. Manager David Moyes echoed the praise, saying that if there was any player he wanted to score today, it would have been Pablo. The Hammers have an opportunity to win a first major European trophy since they lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965, and Rice could emulate World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore if West Ham can win their final against Fiorentina in Prague on 7 June. Rice said: “Everyone speaks about Bobby Moore, you hear his name mentioned all the time. 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.”