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West Ham manager David Moyes hopes he can emulate the success of “serial winner” Jose Mourinho in the Europa Conference League.
The Premier League team play the first leg of their last-16 tie with AEK Larnaca on Thursday, making the trip to Cyprus amid a tough domestic season.
Victory over the two legs would take West Ham to a second successive European quarter-final appearance, having reached the last four of the Europa League last term.
Ahead of the game, Moyes pushed back on the idea success in the continent’s third-tier competition represents a step back, pointing to Mourinho’s success with Roma in 2022 as something to aspire to.
“If you look at the amount of people in football, there’s very few that get that big opportunity to [win trophies],” he said. “Jose Mourinho showed you how much [winning] cared to him because he is a serial winner.
“Last year, we wanted desperately to win the Europa League, but we couldn’t quite get past the semi-final. We’ve got a job to do try and reach the quarter-final.
“If West Ham we’re talking about being in two quarter-finals [in Europe] back-to-back, I think that would be seen as one hell of an achievement.”
Roma became the inaugural winners of the Europa Conference League last term, with a 1-0 win over Feyenoord in the final in Tirana.
Moyes saw his side slip out of the FA Cup against old club Manchester United last week, meanwhile, and with his team locked in a relegation battle, the Scotsman knows European success is a major opportunity for his team.
“I’d love to win the competition,” he added. “I’d love to get to the final. I’d love to keep progressing West Ham in Europe.
“Not for a minute do I underestimate or take any of it for granted, because we’ve got a tough game on our hands. We never know exactly how it’s going to go.”
