Making the first appearance in Europe (excluding qualifiers) since 2006-07, West Ham United won in Croatia on Thursday. In their Europa League opener football match on Thursday West Ham defeated Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 thanks to Michail Antonio and Declan Rice who scored in each half.
Michail Antonio took the lead for the Hammers in the 22nd minute of the game, capitalizing on Kevin Theophile-Catherine’s poor pass to finish into an empty net. Five minutes after the break Declan Rice doubled the lead hitting the ball in the 50th minute which happened to be the winning goal.
Luka Ivanusec almost beat Lukasz Fabianksi, who did not make a save the entire game, but that was Dinamo’s only chance as West Ham won their first European match since 1999 to top Group H. The visitors had nearly 70% possession within the first 15 minutes, but aside from a flurry of corners, Aaron Cresswell’s erroneous long-range effort was their only half-chance.
On the other hand, Antonio made West Ham’s dominance pay when he took advantage of Theophile- Catherine’s concentration lapse to round Dominik Livakovic and score the Hammers’ first European goal since 1999. In the second half, Dinamo attempted to respond immediately, with Bruno Petkovic blasting narrowly wide, but Rice added a second, driving forward before powering a left-footed strike through Livakovic’s legs. Check out football highlights of the Europa League as West Ham defeated Dinamo Zagreb.
Dinamo Zagreb 0 – 2 West Ham
Goals: 0 – 1 Antonio 22, 0 – 2 Rice 50
Bookings: Misic; Lanzini
Dinamo Zagreb: Livakovic, Theophile-Catherine, Lauritsen, Sutalo, Franjic, Misic, Ademi, Ristovski, Ivanusec, Orsic, Petkovic
Substitutions: Gojak, Tolic, Menalo, Moharrami, Juric
West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks, Zouma, Diop, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Vlasic, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio
Substitutions: Yarmolenko, Masuaku, Benrahma, Noble, Bowen
