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Declan Rice delivers pulsating final act to push West Ham over the line

Fiorentina impressed but David Moyes’s side dug deep thanks to their relentless captain who is expected to leave this summerDeclan Rice could never have dreamed this. Almost a decade after being released as a teenager by Chelsea, West Ham’s captain and talisman has the fairytale ending he so dearly craved.Until Jarrod Bowen’s dramatic late winning goal that prompted David Moyes to embark on a David Pleat-esque jig across the turf at the Eden Arena, winning a first major European trophy since the days of Bobby Moore and company in 1965 had seemed the least likely scenario against Fiorentina. The Italian side dominated possession thanks to the outstanding Sofyan Amrabat despite falling behind to Saïd Benrahma’s penalty. But it is a...

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Tottenham’s Conference League tale of disaster awaits its latest twist | David Hytner

Spurs have been trolled by one opponent, humiliated by another and now Covid has delayed their final group gameEven now, at this distance, the video retains all of its shock value; the dark comedy mixing seamlessly with the gloating. Tottenham had lost 1-0 at Paços de Ferreira on 19 August in the first leg of the Europa Conference League play-off and it was the prompt for the Portuguese club to get trolling. Again.After the draw was made, Paços had uploaded a clip of two of their fans discussing the meeting with a London giant. Which one was it? They ran through all of the possibles, deliberately ignoring Spurs, until they were informed that it was indeed them. “Oh, these guys...

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