David Moyes backs ‘massive’ West Ham to keep improving after Sevilla triumph

David Moyes saluted a “massive” performance from West Ham after they stunned Sevilla to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Andriy Yarmolenko climbed off the bench to sink the LaLiga side as the Hammers prolonged their European adventure with a dramatic extra-time win.

West Ham, debutants in the knockout stage of the Europa League, became the first English team to beat the six-time winners in the tournament at a raucous London Stadium.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Tomas Soucek headed West Ham level in the first half and, on a genuine European glory night reminiscent of Upton Park in its heyday, Yarmolenko fired the Hammers to a 2-1 aggregate victory and into a historic quarter-final.

Moyes, referencing the club’s new unofficial anthem, said: “Tonight we were massive, the way we played. We deserved it in the end. It was a really great night and one we really enjoyed. The story tonight was the team.

“Are we favourites to win it? No. But we put out the team who are serial winners, so that will give us a lot of confidence. They were two tough games, really close. I think we did a really good job putting out a Spanish team.

“We are still climbing a mountain, and we are at base camp at the moment. Who would have said two years ago we’d have a night like tonight – but I see a great chance for things to still improve.”

Czech midfielder Soucek struck six minutes before half-time to level the tie with a towering header at the far post from Michail Antonio’s cross.

And Yarmolenko, who scored an emotional goal against Aston Villa on Sunday in his first appearance since Russia invaded his homeland Ukraine, won it  when Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou pushed away a Pablo Fornals shot straight to him to finish at the far