More than him West Hamthe name and surname of the triumph of the Londoners was Andriy Yarmolenko. the captain of Ukraine opened the victory against Aston Villa (2-0) with a great goal that gave way to an absolutely emotional celebration, in memory of his country and that was reflected in the striker’s tears.
The first half was fun. Even though there were no goals. That was thanks to the fact that both teams went to an open grave in search of the goal, which caused half an hour of comings and goings. If you could have made a wish, that would have been the right choice, because the first arrival was already Benharma in the 7th minute and from then on the midfield only played for the transition.
That party style did not favor Coutinho, who during much of that first half did not touch her more than in an attempt to finish off a heel prevented by Zouma. Aston Villa, in fact, had to overcome an early injury to Lucas Digne and went to the locker room with David Luiz with a gap in his lip after an inadvertent kick to the face by Lanzini. The villains asked for the red one, but yellow was enough.
The second half followed the script, unfortunately, of the last fifteen minutes of the first. At least in its beginnings, with an Aston Villa passing football through Coutinho’s boots but without making a difference in the final stretch. Also because Fabianski prevented it with a pardon to Ings and then was helped by the wood.
The West Ham, who gradually let go again, did so completely when Zouma ran into Emi on a corner kick and, in the rebound, Dawson missed an empty goal. That mistake was bad news, but even worse was the injury to Michail Antonio, who hurt his groin and had to be replaced by Yarmolenko. But blessed change. After taking the ovation from the stands, and after a few minutes, football did justice to the Ukrainian. He lowered it spinning in the area and with the outside he nailed it beautifully. And he celebrated it with a mixture of joy and liberation, added to pain, for everything that his country is suffering. With tears, he was supported by all his teammates (70′). And he even he could even do another.
In those last 20 minutes, Aston Villa went for a draw, although they did not find comfort in their arrivals or clear shots. In the end, being so focused, a counterattack culminated by Fornals was the sentence of the villains (82′), who put the emotion in 89′ with a great goal from Ramsey but they stayed at the gates.