West Ham ace Bowen: Early goal shook up Freiburg

West Ham United ace Jarrod Bowen has praised his teammates after their 5-0 win over Freiburg.

The Hammers were 1-0 down in the Europa League after the first leg, but won emphatically at home on Thursday.

Bowen, who scored in the game, praised his teammates such as Aaron Cresswell and Mohamed Kudus.

We knew an early goal would massively put them on the back foot, and at 2-0 we knew there were more goals in it for us," said Bowen to club media.

It [2-0] can be a difficult scoreline because if they get one goal then they are back into it, so we wanted to get it. Cressy's [Aaron Cresswell's] goal was beautiful and we went on to get five. It was a comfortable night in the end but we had to take the game to them without being silly in our shape. Five goals at home in a European tie is always special.

"The number of times he [Kudus] won the ball back, dribbled and the kept on running with the ball was brilliant. He's so direct, has an eye for goal, and even had the composure to finish it with his right foot despite being a left-footed player. I'm really happy for him.

The kick-off time was difficult for the fans but the ones here tonight played their part massively as did the other fans all over [the world] as well. They wanted a performance, wanted us to get into the next round, and we felt that energy. You hear the place at the end, it was rocking!

I think we showed we can compete with everyone tonight, it's very rare you score five goals in a European knockout tie because there is so much at stake, but tonight was one of our best performances in a while. We will enjoy the draw tomorrow and see who we get, but we will respect our opponents as we know there is a process of getting to a final."