The victory in Germany extended the Hammers’ winning streak in the Europa League.
West Ham United won the Europa League again, but their celebrations were met with empty seats due to a stadium ban for their disruption in the Europa Conference League final in June.
The Hammers became the first English team to play 17 consecutive European games without losing, and with two wins from two in the group stage, David Moyes’ side are top and comfortably in reach of a place in the knockout phase.
After meeting Jarrod Bowen’s wonderful cross, Lucas Paqueta opened the scoring, and while the Bundesliga side equalized shortly after the break, Nayef Aguerd headed home a curling James Ward-Prowse corner to record a third consecutive win across all competitions.
How did Lucas Paqueta fare vs Freiburg?
Moyes will be pleased that his team is currently juggling football on multiple fronts with confidence; West Ham suffered consecutive Premier League defeats last month, but those came against Manchester City and Liverpool, after winning 2-0 against Sheffield United at the London Stadium.
And at the heart of it all is Paqueta, who was handsomely rewarded for his position as the conduit in midfield, producing a remarkable five vital passes to accompany his opening score.
Since joining from French club Lyon for a club-record £51 million last summer, the Brazilian maestro has registered seven goals and eight assists in 50 games.
While he only completed 69% of his passes at the Stade Europa-Park, this is due to Paqueta’s creative and entrepreneurial temperament on the ball, always looking for openings.
Indeed, another outstanding performance, but according to The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas, it was his colleague and goal orchestrator, Bowen, who was “brilliant again.”
How effective was Jarrod Bowen against Freiburg?
Bowen’s assist for Paqueta’s opener brings his season tally to five goals and two assists from eight appearances, and he has been lauded by the likes of talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan for his “unbelievable” seasonal exploits.
According to Sofascore, he played as a center-forward in Germany, where he added a vital pass, 41 touches, and success with four of his five dribble attempts, as well as winning six duels and taking four shots.
After being called up to the England squad earlier in the day, the dynamic forward demonstrated his worth as one of the most dangerous and versatile players in his position.
With metrics ranking the £60k-per-week star among the top 7% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for interceptions, the top 9% for aerial wins, and the top 19% for clearances per 90, he is certainly crucial across the Irons’ play.
With further performances like the one against Freiburg, this blossoming jewel will only continue to bloom, and he is very much the focal point of West Ham’s assault, as he demonstrated last night.
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