West Ham and Fiorentina haven’t won a European trophy for more than 50 years.
The drought will end for one of them when they contest the Europa Conference League final tonight in Prague.
West Ham earned their lone European title in 1965, the old European Cup Winners’ Cup. Alan Sealey scored twice to beat 1860 Munich 2-0 at Wembley Stadium and then the Hammers reached the final of the same competition in 1976
En route to this year’s showpiece – West Ham’s third European final – forward Jarrod Bowen contributed four goals and can’t wait to play it.
“I’ve played for England, but I think achieving this with your teammates who you’ve been with together to get to a final and you have the opportunity to win a trophy together, it will be a massive moment,” Bowen said.
“We’re all excited about being in the final of a European competition and this will be the pinnacle for a lot of players. It will certainly be the biggest game of my career.”
Fiorentina’s only European trophy was also the Cup Winners’ Cup, the first one back in 1961 when they defeated Rangers in a two-leg final 4-1 on aggregate.
By reaching the second finale of the Europa Conference League, Fiorentina have become the first club to contest a final in four major continental competitions.
Fiorentina were defeated by Real Madrid for the 1957 European Cup (the forerunner of the Champions League), and by Juventus in the 1990 UEFA Cup final. They also failed to win the Cup Winners’ Cup back to back, losing the 1962 final to Atletico Madrid.
Fiorentina have had a good build-up. They played the Italian Cup final two weeks ago and were beaten by Inter Milan 2-1 – the only loss for the Florence-based club in their last six matches.
The last warm-up for the Conference final was beating Sassuolo 3-1 last Friday for an eighth-place finish in Serie A.
Culled from thewest.com