David Moyes was happy to see West Ham return to form on Thursday night in the Europa League.
In what was billed as something of a grudge match, Lucas Paqueta’s excellent volley with 17 minutes remaining proved to be enough for the Hammers to exact revenge on Olympiacos.
Following the team’s 2-1 victory in Piraeus last month, which put an end to Moyes’s 17-game winning streak on the continent, Angelo Ogbonna was among those who criticized the opposition for their post-match celebrations.
The match on Thursday night had been dull until Paqueta caught a beautiful pass from James Ward-Prowse, despite the residual animosity prior to the game.
After Freiburg had defeated Serbian team Backa Topola earlier in the evening, the hosts then survived a late scare when Mady Camara struck the post to take back the top spot in Group A.
With a victory in Serbia later this month, West Ham will secure their spot in the competition’s knockout stages, guaranteeing them access to European football after Christmas.
“The outcome was the most important thing, so I’m really happy that we got the result,” Moyes told TNT Sports.
We didn’t play to our full potential, but they are a respectable, seasoned European team that is more accustomed to losing in these tournaments than we are.
“In the end, I believe we had the better opportunities—they didn’t have many opportunities to score. In the end, it got a little hairy, but overall, we were in control.”
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