Alphonse Areola was encouraged by the battling nature of West Ham United’s display in the challenging circumstances presented by the UEFA Europa League quarter-final first-leg match against Olympique Lyonnais.
In the Club’s first major European quarter-final since 1981, a cagey first half ensued at London Stadium, as both teams spent much of the opening exchanges sounding each other out.
The nature of the first leg transformed an instant, however, when West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell was shown a straight red card on the stroke of half-time after being adjudged to have pulled back Lyon striker Moussa Dembélé.
Nevertheless, even with a numerical disparity, Jarrod Bowen still put the Irons ahead shortly after the restart with an instinctive swivel and finish inside the box.
Tanguy Ndombele’s scrambled equaliser with a quarter of the game to go means that the two teams will go into next week’s second leg at Parc Olympique Lyonnais with the scores all square – and all still to play for.
“It was a tough game,” Areola admitted, speaking to West Ham TV.
“I think after the red card we had to be focused on what we wanted to do, to not lose the game, and obviously try to win the game.
“I think [Dembélé’s] first touch was going away from the direction of the goal, but that’s it. He [the referee] gave the red card and that’s it. We had to be focused after that and to keep pushing and that’s what we did.
“We knew that Lyon are a good team. I knew that they have the quality to play all together in the small areas.
“They showed it, but I think we defended well with ten players, and we’ll keep hoping that we’re going to get through this round.”
With the red card dispensed on the stroke of half-time, Areola took particular pride in the resilient manner in which his teammates responded.
The 29-year-old himself was called upon to make several smart stops late on as Lyon turned up the pressure in the hope of making their numerical advantage in the leg count.
But fight on, Areola and West Ham did, and it is in France they will have to win the game if they are to advance to a first European semi-final since 1976.
The goalkeeper explained: “When you are one man down, you just have to stick together and try to not concede a goal.
“It’s what we’ve done. All the players were switched on and ready to fight after that red card, so when we came back it was just: ‘Let’s do it. We stick together and we fight.’
“We scored straight away, it was a good one, and we had a few chances as well to break in that game, but they scored.
“It’s not done. We have a second leg next week so let’s play the [Premier League] game this weekend and then be ready for next week.
“We’re still here. 1-1 at home. Obviously we wanted a better result, but it’s like this.
“We have to go there and play how we’ve done and just keep pushing. It’s how we play.”
