West Ham manager David Moyes declared his side needs Declan Rice "to drive us on" if they are to come back from a 2-1 deficit against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-final.
The first leg, played at London Stadium, got off to the worst possible start as the visitors scored inside the opening minute, with Michail Antonio replying in the first half before Daichi Kamada scored the Frankfurt winner after 54 minutes.
Whichever team advances to the final will meet the winner of RB Leipzig and Rangers.
Rice has been the driving force behind West Ham's season and has become one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League. Now, Moyes wants the 23-year-old to push the Hammers into a first major European final since 1976.
"I say to Declan Rice every week 'you have to drive them on, every day in training – the levels and standards have to be taken higher'," Moyes told a news conference.
"Every day you have to drive them on, the levels. He has the chance to work with some of the best players in the country when he goes away with England – Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, you name it – and he has to bring that back to our camp and demand it from the other boys.
Rice has, quite literally, played a key role in progressing West Ham to this huge tie, having made 182 ball carries in the Europa League this season, second only to Barcelona's Eric Garcia (191).
The total distance of Rice's carries amounts to 2,083 metres, more than 400 metres more than any other central midfield player this campaign. Moyes did stress, though, that it is important not to put the onus all on one talismanic player.
"We also mustn't put too much on Dec’s shoulders! I’m the one who's said it because he's such a quality player and he's got tremendous abilities," Moyes continued.
"I challenge him a lot, but we need to get a whole team performance and everybody needs to perform well.
"We need Dec to drive us on, but we need him to play with a really steady, experienced head for somebody who's young."
Moyes' second spell in charge has seen West Ham transform from relegation candidates to being on the brink of a European final in the space of two years.
"Our climb over the last two years has probably been faster [than we'd expect] and sometimes you have to come down a little bit to go again – but hopefully, we continue to build and grow, and that’s what I'm trying to drive home," Moyes added.
"The biggest thing I've seen is the mentality change in the players here – it's incredible. The demand really is that we try and improve, and I put it on them.
"They need to be the ones who do it as well. The manager is always the one who gets found out if it happens or not, but sometimes the players need to be the ones who roll their sleeves up and not accept anything other than the best."
Juventus 0-1 Milan: Giroud decides top-four battle in Rossoneri's favour
Milan secured a top-four Serie A finish with a 1-0 win at Juventus as Olivier Giroud's header dealt a knockout blow to the Bianconeri's own hopes of Champions League qualification.
Still reeling from their 10-point deduction and Monday's miserable 4-1 defeat at Empoli, Juve required a win at Allianz Stadium to take the top-four battle to the season's final matchday.
However, the Bianconeri's lack of attacking thrust was on full display once again, with Giroud scoring the only goal of the game with an outstanding header as half-time approached on Sunday.
The Rossoneri were comfortable from there as they ensured Juve's chaotic season will end on another sour note, piling more pressure on embattled head coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Sandro Tonali headed Junior Messias' delivery over as Milan started brightly, but Juve soon improved, with Angel Di Maria failing to hook Moise Kean's cut-back home on the stretch.
More Bianconeri chances came and went as Federico Chiesa hammered over and Kean worked Mike Maignan from distance, but Juve found themselves behind five minutes before half-time.
Davide Calabria's hanging cross from the right was met with a textbook header from Giroud, who planted the ball beyond Wojciech Szczesny's despairing dive.
Adrien Rabiot forced a comfortable save from Maignan as Juve toiled after the restart, failing to make any attacking headway without injured striker Dusan Vlahovic.
Szczesny stuck out a leg to deny Alexis Saelemaekers and Rafael Leao fired over on the break, while Danilo had a close-range effort blocked in a goalmouth scramble as Juve's bid for Champions League football ended with a whimper.
What does it mean? Milan profit from Juve woes
When Juventus' 10-point deduction was confirmed earlier this week, Milan were the chief beneficiary after being propelled into the top four.
Stefano Pioli's men were determined not to let that advantage slip here, the Rossoneri weathering the Juve storm midway through the first half and deserving the three points after Giroud's goal.
Milan thus completed just their third Serie A double over Juventus in the last 50 years, also doing so in the 1990-91 and 2009-10 campaigns.
Giroud the man of the moment
Giroud has so often been the man for the big occasion for both club and country, and he gave Szczesny no chance with a firm header just as Juventus looked to be in the ascendency.
The 36-year-old striker has now scored 12 times in Serie A this season, his best return in one of Europe's top five leagues since he hit as many Premier League goals for Arsenal in the 2016-17 campaign.
Fatal blow for Allegri?
Allegri has faced stern criticism for most of the campaign, and the pressure may just become intolerable now they will finish outside of Italy's top four for the first time since 2010-11 (when they finished seventh).
Having also fallen short in the Europa League semi-finals, the Bianconeri have suffered three successive defeats for the first time since doing so in 2011 under Luigi Delneri.
What's next?
Milan wrap up their Serie A season against Verona next Sunday, while Juventus will be playing for a Europa League place when they visit Udinese on the same day.
Dean Smith believes Leicester can immediately bounce back from relegation
Dean Smith says Leicester have the capability to bounce straight back to the Premier League after they were relegated on Sunday.
The Foxes became just the second former champions to drop out of the division, joining Blackburn in 1999, as their 2-1 final-day win against West Ham was not enough to keep them in the division due to Everton’s victory over Bournemouth.
They went 2-0 up thanks to goals from Harvey Barnes and Wout Faes, with Pablo Fornals pulling one back for the Hammers, but it counted for nothing.
Relegation represents a huge fall from grace as that remarkable 5000-1 title came in 2016 and they have enjoyed much more recent success as they won the FA Cup in 2021 under Brendan Rodgers, who also delivered back-to-back fifth-placed finishes.
It will be the Championship next season, though Smith, who replaced Rodgers on a short-term SOS mission last month, reckons it could be a short stay in the second tier.
He said: “The raw materials this club has is an elite club. It feels raw now and it hurts and everybody will be devastated but with the infrastructure it has got it can bounce back.
“That is what happens. There has been plenty of times where you have knocks and your job is to bounce back and make sure you improve on the things that let you down and I have no doubt the club will.
“I think it has to (reset). Any club that gets relegated, they have to find a way to bounce back. There are plenty of knocks in football, it is, we all know that week in, week out,about how you bounce back.
“From what I have seen with the infrastructure I see no reason why it can’t bounce straight back.”
It remains to be seen whether Smith will lead that charge next season as his future remains in the air.
His eight-game remit has now ended, but he has experience of winning promotion in the Championship with Aston Villa.
Smith says he has not yet thought about his long-term future but will speak to chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha in a few days.
“Seven weeks, eight games, we didn’t speak about anything beyond that. I will speak to Top, who I have an awful lot of respect for, over the next couple of days and commiserate with him because the time and effort he puts into this football club is there for all to see.
“I am certainly not thinking about my future at the moment. It is raw getting relegated now, I’ll go away and reflect on it, speak to John (Rudkin) and Top. It’s a hypothetical question at the moment.”
Defeat ended a disappointing Premier League season for West Ham where they finished 14th, six points above the drop zone.
But boss David Moyes admitted his mind has been on the forthcoming Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague.
“It’s been on it for a long time, but what would you expect? Getting to European finals don’t come around too often. It’s been 47 years for West Ham.
“We’ve got to the final, we started back in August now going into June to the final and to try and have a good Premier League season and keep the competition going, it takes a big effort and it was a big effort to retain Premier League status and to ensure we keep winning in the cup.
“We wanted a draw because that would have got us one place higher in the league which might not mean much but it does to us, we were desperate to get there.
“We’ve got nothing to celebrate but playing against a team who has been relegated shows how devastating it can be.”
Barcelona 3-0 Mallorca: Fabulous Fati fires up Camp Nou farewell
Ansu Fati's fabulous first-half double fired LaLiga champions Barcelona to victory in their Camp Nou farewell with a 3-0 win over Real Mallorca.
The Blaugrana signed off from their famous stadium in style, with Gavi also netting in a comfortable win over their 10-men visitors on Sunday.
In what was their final home game at their iconic ground before a temporary move to facilitate a lengthy renovation, Xavi's side ensured they bade it a fitting goodbye.
After losses against Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid, it also marked an impressive return to form.
Barca needed less than a minute to carve open their visitors, with Fati tucking away a Gavi cutback following a neat Robert Lewandowski ball into the box.
Matters soon worsened for Mallorca, when Amath Ndiaye saw his yellow card upgraded to a red by VAR for a shocking foul on Alejandro Balde.
Fati doubled his tally after that with a close-range rocket off Lewandowski's deft one-touch set-up, and Barca never looked like losing control from there on out.
Mallorca dug their heels in, but even then remained under siege, with Jules Kounde hitting the bar with a header shortly after the restart.
Lewandowski crashed a free-kick against the woodwork too, but Barca finally found their third when Gavi lashed a low finish beyond Dominik Greif.
There were standing ovations for Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets on their final home appearances, with the Camp Nou crowd rising to salute the club legends.
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