Lyon 0-3 West Ham (agg 1-4): Clinical Hammers book semi-final spot

Three goals in the space of 11 minutes either side of half-time propelled West Ham into their first semi-final in a major UEFA competition in 46 years.

Match in brief: Hammers weather storm to make it through

Lyon started superbly and went close when Karl Toko Ekambi wriggled through before firing a low shot which beat Alphonse Areola but not the post.

Craig Dawson then made a fine block to thwart Houssem Aouar as the visitors defended well against some high-quality home attacking play.

Craig Dawson (centre) put West Ham in frontAFP via Getty Images

And they reaped their rewards before half-time when Dawson headed in Pablo Fornals' near-post corner, before Declan Rice's shot from 20 metres doubled the lead, albeit aided by a slight deflection.

Lyon made two changes at the break, but any hopes of a comeback were killed off within three minutes when Jarrod Bowen collected Fornals' pass and fired in the third.

Ian Holyman, match reporter

Lyon's defensive frailties came back to haunt them while West Ham were solid in their own final third and unforgivingly efficient at the opposite end of the pitch. Having ensured the passion provoked by the hosts' promising opening would fizzle out, the visitors took complete control. Areola was only stretched once, with Lyon unable to find the cutting edge required to slice through the West Ham back line. On this showing, it's going to take quite something to beat David Moyes' team.

Reaction

Declan Rice, West Ham midfielder: "It's special. Very, very special. We knew it was a tough place to come, but we knew with what we had on the pitch, our attacking players and what we had seen in the first game with them defensively, we could score goals tonight."

Peter Bosz, Lyon coach: "I want to win, and in European competition, you lose and you're knocked out. We played well in London. We started very well here: Karl [Toko Ekambi] hit the post and we had two chances after that. You have to score, and we didn't do that."

Issa Diop, West Ham defender: "We didn't start the game well; they were the better side. But we were more effective at both ends of the pitch."

Key stats

• West Ham became only the second English team to win at Lyon, following Arsenal in 2001.
• Lyon suffered their first home defeat in 13 games in UEFA competition (W4 D8).
• West Ham had lost their previous five away games in all competitions.
• West Ham have won two of their three UEFA competition semi-finals, not including the Intertoto Cup.
• Lyon failed to score for only the second time in their last 29 Europa League matches.

Line-ups

Lyon: Pollersbeck; Gusto, Denayer (Reine-Adélaïde 89), Lukeba, Emerson; Ndombélé (Lucas Paquetá 46), Mendes; Faivre (Tetê 46), Aouar (Barcola 71), Toko Ekambi; Dembélé

West Ham: Areola; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Johnson; Souček, Rice (Benrahma 90), Fornals; Bowen, Antonio (Yarmolenko 84), Lanzini (Noble 76)

Where is the 2022 Europa League final?

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Seville's Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium will stage the final on Wednesday 18 May.

The winners gain a place in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage, if they have not qualified via their domestic competition.