Legendary Moyes outshines Clough and Ferguson after guiding West Ham to 2-1 win over SC Freiburg

By Alessandro Schiavone at Europapark Stadion, Freiburg

SC Freiburg 1-2 West Ham United

Goals: Paquetà (WH), Sallai (SCF), Aguerd (WHU)

By beating Freiburg 2-1 in the Europa League at Europapark Stadion tonight, David Moyes has done something that not even the most heralded and greatest managers in English football history had done before. Not Sir Alex Ferguson, not Brian Clough, certainly not Arsène Wenger, nor the Pep Guardiolas or Jurgen Klopps of our times.

To go 17 games unbeaten in Europe, irrespective of the opposition, is no mean feat. It's true that he didn't have the toughest of rides with Anderlecht, Gent, Alkmaar, Fiorentina and company. But there are no easy games and you still have to do it. And you can only beat who you come up against. In times of Oktoberfest, Moyes certainly deserves a pint or two to enjoy an achievement that will be his for a long time.

And right from the off West Ham were up for it tonight with the unplayable Lucas Paquetà and Nayef Aguerd on target for the Hammers. In between, Freiburg's Hungarian midfielder Roland Sallai had converted a rebound's rebound four minutes after the restart.

A sold-out crowd consisting of 34.100 only-Freiburg-fans, after the Hammers faithful were banned following their Europa Conference League final antics, saw Brazil star Paquetà put the visitors ahead against the out-of-sorts home side. Like a clinical centre-forward he rose highest to plant a flying header into the back of the net after only eight minutes.

Mohammed Kudus came close to gifting the east Londoners' their second. But Freiburg stopper Noah Atubolu's blushes were saved by the post as he failed to hold on to a weak effort.

There was only one team on the pitch as Freiburg barely crossed the halfway line. The fans chanted "Auf geht's Freiburg schieß ein Tor" which translates to "Come on Freiburg, score a goal". But on the basis of what Christian Streich's lethargic men produced that was a tall order. Their long balls forward approach led nowhere before they raised their game after the restart. And it took only four minutes for Sallai to score after Lukasz Fabianski had miraculously kept out his initial effort and Lukas Kübler's follow-up. But when the ball fell to the Hungary international for a second he put his laces through it to give West Ham a kick in their teeth. Few saw that coming and Moyes' even rode their luck when Sildillia hit the crossbar minutes later.

Then up stepped Moroccan international Aguerd on 66 minutes to punish an Atubolu hesitancy and head the winner in off the crossbar.

It will take some time before the history books are updated as Moyes proudly looks down on the rest of his iconic predecessors and contemporaries.

Line-ups

Freiburg

1 Atubolu, 3 Lienhart, 8 Eggestein, 9 Höler, 17 Kübler, 20 Adamu, 22 Sallai, 25 Sildillia, 27 Höfler, 28 Ginter, 32 Grifo

West Ham

1 Fabianski, 5 Coufal, 7 Ward-Prowse, 8 Fornals, 10 Paquetà, 14 Kudus, 15 Mavropanos, 19 Alvarez, 20 Bowen, 24 Kehrer, 27 Aguerd