Fiorentina vs West Ham – Europa Conference League final: Live score, team news and updates as David Moyes bids for a famous victory in Prague
Follow Mail Sport’s live blog for the Europa Conference League final between Fiorentina and West Ham.
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After 20,000 West Ham fans descended on Prague for a party, the Irons faithful outnumbered the purple of Fiorentina 10 to one in a hub of hysteria
Kieran Gill is one of Mail Sport’s roving reporters on the ground in Prague, amid the near-20,000 West Ham fans that have descended on the Czech capital.
Read his full report on the day’s revelries – and brief splash of fan violence – below.
Finishing just one place of the European spots in Serie A, La Viola have had a bright 2022-23 campaign under Vincenzo Italiano, who has brought their side on immeasurably since joining the Florentine outfit in 2021. Similiar in coaching style to Roberto De Zerbi or Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti, Italiano’s Fiorentina are all press, all the time – and have been caught in defence more than once as a result.
Tonight’s final is the second of Italiano’s season in charge: they reached the Coppa Italia final after batting aside opponents such as Sampdoria, Cremonese, and Torino.
But the May 24 match-up against Champions League finalists Inter Milan halted their first tilt at silverware with a 2-1 victory against Italiano’s men at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
Have their hopes of lifting their first trophy in 22 years been dented beyond repair? Or will the loss light a fire in the side that West Ham might not be able to snuff out?
West Ham boss David Moyes was the bookies’ favourite to be sacked in the New Year but he can rewrite the narrative after reaching an historic European final
Between the end of 2022 and the start of 2023, David Moyes’ future at West Ham had been cast into serious doubt amid their struggling run of form.
Five Premier League defeats in a row – separated by the winter World Cup – left the Hammers hanging precariously above the relegation zone and worried about the future.
It got so bad that bookmakers listed Moyes as the most likely managerial candidate to get dismissed from the Premier League in January, as things turned bleak.
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The first fans are already making their way into the Eden Arena to get the atmosphere going with time to spare.
In other news, Czech police appear to have apprehended some of the Fiorentina ultras causing a fracas in the Old Town earlier this afternoon, pinning down their quarry in what appears to be a women’s shoe shop.
The West Ham captain is all but confirmed to be playing his last match for the Hammers this evening, and what a final moment lifting the trophy could be. Wherever Rice goes next – Bayern, Arsenal, Man United – he might have a greater chance of winning silverware, but victory tonight could arguably be the one of the mos special moments of his career.
But as we saw with Jude Bellingham final match in a Dortmund shirt, which saw the Real Madrid-bound midfielder come within inches of helping the club win their first Bundesliga title in 11 years, fairytale narratives don’t always come true.
Regardless of whether he leaves with European glory tonight, Rice has become a talismanic figure in the years since his promotion to the first team in 2017. West Ham won’t be looking to stand in his way, but they will be bitterly disappointing to be losing such a presence, both on and off the pitch.
‘There is a chance for us to go and create a legacy’: Declan Rice eyes West Ham immortality
Declan Rice says he wants to immortalise himself in West Ham’s history as he prepares for an emotional final farewell to the club he loves in Prague on Wednesday evening.
The £100million-rated midfielder will don the captain’s armband – most likely for the final time – in their Europa Conference League final with Fiorentina at Slavia Prague’s Fortuna Arena.
Rice has spoken of cementing his status in West Ham folklore by becoming the first Hammers captain to lift a European trophy since Bobby Moore in 1965.
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Where is the match being played?
Tonight’s 8pm kick-off will take place at the Eden Arena in Prague, home of the city’s Slavia Prague – the former team of West Ham starter Tomas Soucek – which has a capacity of 19,370.
Somewhat controversially, both teams have been handed a paltry 5,000 seats each. The respective fan zones should be packed to the gills, as there are definitely more than 5,000 West Ham fans currently pootling around Prague’s historic Old Town.
How can I watch?
The final will be shown live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate, with coverage getting underway at 6.30pm.
Non-subscribers will be able to watch the action on the channel’s official YouTube page. The game will also be streamed on the BT Sport app.
How are the two sides expected to line up?
We’re a little way off official team news, but the expected starting XIs are as below:
Predicted Fiorentina XI (4-2-3-1): Terracciano; Dodo, Martinez Quarta, Milenkovic, Biraghi; Amrabat, Mandragora; Gonzalez, Bonaventura, Ikone; Cabral
Predicted West Ham XI (4-3-3): Areola; Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice, Paqueta; Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma
MICAH RICHARDS: Joining Fiorentina was one of the best decisions of my career… my beloved Florence aches for a football renaissance
There are two sides to every story around a final. It might seem an obvious thing to say, but I’m not sure we truly consider it, particularly when an English team are going for a European trophy.
It’s fantastic to see the excitement around West Ham. Their fans have headed to Prague in huge numbers and it would be enormous for them to win the Europa Conference League, but don’t think they are the only ones with dreams. Fiorentina’s sense of destiny is just as strong.
Fiorentina will always hold a special place in my heart. I joined them in September 2014 on loan and, while I had reservations at first, within a couple of weeks they had been banished. It turned out to be one of my best decisions, the opportunity to experience a different culture in one of the world’s most historic cities.
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Tonight’s match-up is in fact a revival of a decades-old cup-final rivalry between the Hammers and the Serie A outfit, the sides having previously met in the long-defunct Anglo Italian Cup in 1975.
Fiorentina qualified off the back of their success over AC Milan in the Coppa Italia, West Ham their FA Cup victory over Fulham, their final played over two legs with a curiously long three month break between the two fixtures.
The result doesn’t make for particularly reassuring reading for West Ham supporters – the side, then managed by John Lyall, flew to Florence in September to be beaten 1-0, with La Viola repeating the feat at the Boleyn Ground in December to claim the trophy.
Symmetry demands another 1-0 tonight: but which way will it go in Prague?
IAN HERBERT: West Ham fans are always wanting more, but what’s wrong with that?
West Ham will hope to emulate their club’s iconic 1965 side and bring home a treasured piece of European silverware in Prague. But could victory on the night help breathe new life into a club struggling for Premier League plaudits, operating far below the fans’ boundless ambition?
Read Ian Herbet’s assessment on what a historic night in Europe could mean long term for the club below.
West Ham have had a barnstorming progression through the knockout stages of the tournament, after topping their Group – B – following victories against Anderlecht, Silkeborg, and FCSB.
They’re yet to lose in the competition, and have only drawn once, against Gent in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. David Moyes’ players’ dismantling of AZ Alkmaar across both legs has set expectations thrillingly high.
Fiorentina have had a slightly more checkered run en route to the Eden Arena: they finished second in their group, behind Baksaksehir. But an emphatic win over Braga helped plot their path through the knockout stages.
Things got a little hairy after Vincenzo Italiano’s men went into the second leg of their semi-final against Basel 2-1 down, but a strong showing in the second leg helped book their ticket north east-ish.
The sun is shining, the beer’s been flowing, and England’s unlikely talisman Chesney Hawkes has been performing a rousing rendition of ‘One and Only’ (we can assume) for the assembled fans in the West Ham fanzone.
The avowed Hammer will no doubt be hoping to replicate the particular magic he brought to the Three Lions performances against Wales and Senegal in Qatar. Whatever works!
Violence flares in Prague as partying West Ham fans are attacked by a gang of hoodie-wearing ‘Fiorentina ultras’
A group of partying West Ham fans were violently set upon by Fiorentina ultras this afternoon, writes Mail Sport’s Shekhar Bhatia.
The celebratory mood soured in central Prague soon after 3pm when Hammers fans drinking in a bar were attacked by a group of Italians clad in black clothing and masks.
As word went round the wider area that their fellow fans were being assaulted Hammers fans moved towards the bar – and a group of riot police moved in to prevent the two groups meeting.
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Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of the Europa Conference League final between West Ham and Fiorentina.
It could be an auspicious night for the Hammers, who have their sights set on lifting a European trophy for the first time since a West Ham side led by Sir Bobby Moore triumphed in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965. Can David Moyes’ men write themselves into the history books in Prague?
We’ll be kicking off at the Eden Arena in the Czech capital at 8pm UK time, but stick around for all the build-up and commentary ahead of what should be a terrific match-up.
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