Mohammed Kudus scores goal of the season contender to silence West Ham critics
David Moyes’ critics may be feeling sheepish. This was a dynamite performance from West Ham as they overcame a first-leg deficit to thrash Freiburg and book their place in Friday's quarter-final draw.
Moyes has been chastised for his team’s style of play recently as domestic results have dropped off. But nights like these make it hard to argue against his point that it is a long time since the Hammers have had it this good.
And the Scot toasted a third straight European quarter-final by saying: “From where we’ve come from, a team avoiding relegation, it’s a brilliant achievement.
“The club has moved on so much in the last few years. It’s hard to point out how good it’s been. And we want to make it better if we can.”
Mohammed Kudus capped this triumph with a remarkable fourth goal that saw the Ghanaian dribble 60 yards before drilling past hapless Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu - and his mid-range curling strike for the fifth was not bad either.
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“Snakehips,” Moyes said. “It was a brilliant individual goal, a Roy of the Rovers type goal really.”
But the damage had already been done versus their stunned Bundesliga opponents as the Hammers made it 11 straight home wins in Europe. They levelled the tie after nine minutes as Lucas Paqueta peeled off Vincenzo Grifo to tap in from four yards - and always looked more threatening.
Freiburg aimed to respond quickly as Roland Sallai dragged a low shot a couple of inches wide, except that 10th-minute effort would prove their clearest chance.
The Germans enjoyed a larger share of the ball but there was never much dynamism to their forward play. And West Ham have routinely shown over the past three seasons that they do not need possession to thrive.
Indeed Jarrod Bowen ’s goal, making it 2-1 on aggregate, was a classic of the Moyes genre - combining directness and power with a little bit of magic.
Mohammed Kudus fires home his stunning goal with his weaker right foot in West Ham's win over Freiburg.Bowen, who had earlier learnt of another England call-up, shook off Christian Gunter’s rash challenge and found an angle around Matthias Ginter that allowed him to drill into Atubolu’s bottom right corner from 20 yards.
Any fear of West Ham becoming dangerously comfortable with a one-goal advantage evaporated when Cresswell fired in a third six minutes after the break.
Bowen’s centre from the right was only cleared as far as Cresswell on the edge of the penalty area. With the freedom of east London, he took a touch before shooting in off the post.
It was not long until Kudus’ trickery had the home fans, many of whom ducked out of work early to be in time for an early kick-off, shouting “ole”. And his 77th-minute solo effort, twisting the Freiburg defence inside out but finishing with his weaker right foot, had them in raptures.
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