West Ham United reached their first European final in 47 years on Thursday night.
A 1-0 win against AZ Alkmaar, courtesy of Pablo Fornals’ last-gasp stunner, was enough to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory and set up a Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina on Wednesday, June 7.
Since the Fornals goal, a wide range of celebrations involving West Ham players and supporters have been doing the rounds on the internet and social media, and here is a look at the best of what has been shared so far.
READ MORE: ‘Crying like a kid’ - Pablo Fornals reveals West Ham emotions after winning goal vs AZ Alkmaar
Mark Noble’s tears
It was been West Ham’s first season for a long time without having former captain Mark Noble in the playing squad, having served as the club’s sporting director since January.
At the end of the game as West Ham went to celebrate with the travelling fans by the away end, Noble, who came agonisingly close to a European final of his own 12 months ago, was unable to hold back his emotions at West Ham reaching their first European final since 1976 and their first major final at all since 2006.
For a man who lives and breathes the club and has given his life to it, while he was not in the playing squad it felt very appropriate that he was there to celebrate with West Ham’s players and staff.
In the post-match celebrations, Noble was spotted holding a large crate of bottles of Heineken as the players celebrated in the away dressing room, uplifting the squad just like he did as club captain for so many years.
“Airport that way, Prague, that way”
After the first leg win, an 11-year-old West Ham fan became an internet sensation in his post-match review of the 2-1 first leg win.
In his brilliant interview with West Ham fan tv, he referred to Alkmaar as Alphabet FC and was quoted as saying, “Airport that way, Prague that way.”
Keen to honour the sheer brilliance of the video, Rice used those exact words in a celebratory tweet post-match, repeating the remark in his post-game interview with West Ham’s club channels.
Rice may be a brilliant leader both on and off the pitch, but he also possesses such an excellent personality off it, forever keen to engage with supporters as much as possible.
Pablo Fornals does it again
There’s an infamous clip of Fornals from last season after one of the wins in West Ham’s run to the Europa League’s semi-finals, where he sang “West Ham are massive, everywhere we go,” a chant that has become synonymous with the success of the last few seasons.
Fornals recreated the video in his post-match interview with the club channels in a brilliant clip and tribute to last season’s superb run in Europe, although one that may now be eclipsed by this season’s performances.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Moyes said that there could not have been anyone better to score that goal than Fornals, given his dedication despite struggles for minutes for large parts of this season.
Dressing room antics
An awful lot went on in the dressing room at full-time as West Ham celebrated into the early hours following their win over Alkmaar.
It started with a passionate post-match team talk from Moyes, telling his players how well they’d done to reach the final before leading into huge chants, jumping, and songs, with players, Moyes, and his staff all involved alike.
There were plenty of songs in front of an impressive-looking dressing room food buffet as Noble brought in a case of beers. A rendition of “Cotton eyed Joe” got everyone singing, as did the chants of “Bowen’s on fire” in honour of Jarrod Bowen.
There was plenty captured in an Instagram Live by Said Benrahma, who went around the changing room to celebrate with a number of players individually including Rice, teenage striker Divin Mubama, Michail Antonio Nayef Aguerd, Alphonse Areola, and more.
Benrahma is part of a group of players all with French and South American connections that were all seen singing together on the bus, including himself, Aguerd, Areola, Emerson, Lucas Paqueta, Kehrer, Manuel Lanzini, Kurt Zouma, and Maxwel Cornet.
Considering how much change there has been at West Ham this season, you can tell that this is a very united squad and one that is on the brink of creating history.
A West Ham reunion
It was not only current West Ham players celebrating the win, as former Irons from the past were in attendance to celebrate the result.
Former striker Andy Carroll was pictured with Hammers fans chanting during the day on Thursday before joining them in the away end for the game as fans serenaded him in the match.
In the VIP and family areas, ex-Hammers teammates Anton Ferdinand and Marlon Harewood shared a video of them celebrating together in the stands, while Tony Gale and Tony Cottee were also there for the trip, with Cottee being pictured with Carroll before the match on Thursday.
Fellow former Hammers were able to celebrate in a work capacity, with ex-captain Joe Cole and striker Carlton Cole also in attendance as part of BT Sport's panel for their coverage of the game.
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