West Ham United have a shot at creating history when they face Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa Conference League final on Wednesday, 7 June. The Hammers have only tasted success in European competitions twice in their history, having won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999.
They have a chance to become the first English team to win the Europa Conference League and only the second-ever winners in the competition’s short history. Even though David Moyes’ side barely managed to avoid relegation from the Premier League last season, they’ve been playing at a different groove in Europe.
For many West Ham, a trip to the Fortuna Arena in Prague-Vrsovice, Czech Republic will almost be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see their beloved club lift European gold. The West Ham fanbase is currently brimming with excitement and positivity as they hope to see their team end their campaign on a high note.
It appears that the Hammers’ fans are coming up with new fans to motivate the players and simply have fun en route to the final. One particular West Ham supporter has even come up with a brilliant new chant for midfielder Lucas Paqueta, who has been inspirational in taking them to the Europa Conference League final.
The Brazilian has four goal contributions (one goal, three assists) in the Conference League and made himself into a really popular figure within the fanbase. This West Ham fan has created a new banner for Paqueta, which has the words ‘Sold My Card to Lucas Paqueta’ written on it. It’s a clever little banner with three sections, with multiple cards drawn into the centre.
This has managed to trigger a new chant for Lucas, which basically just goes ‘Just Sold My Car to Lucas Paqueta’. This little chant is actually inspired by a TV advert created by the UK car buying service ‘We Buy Any Car’ – which specializes in offering customers alternative means to sell their vehicles.
The company, which was founded in 2006, has bought over 2 million vehicles in its history. Last year, WeBuyAnyCar created a really eye-catching TV advertisement to promote their product.
In the advertisement, a man sitting inside a vehicle is being sold that he just sold their car to WeBuyAnyCar. Thus starts a tune of ‘Just Sold My Car to We Buy Any Car’, which excites the man and gets him dancing outside of the vehicle. This advert appears to be a major hit among some West Ham fans, who have decided to take inspiration from the Paqueta chant.
The entire tune and wordings are almost similar in both of these, with the West Ham fan just replacing ‘We Buy Any Car’ with ‘Lucas Paqueta’. This has taken a majority of the West Ham fanbase on Twitter by storm because some fans just can’t seem to have enough of it.
A few fans have admitted that they just can’t get the catchy tune or lyrics out of their head and have promised to debut this chant during the Europa Conference League final.
Paqueta is unlikely to have heard this tune yet, but it could actually be quite fitting for him knowing the Brazilian midfielder love for celebrating goals by pulling off sweet dance moves like the man in the WeBuyAnyCar advertisement.
Just over 5,000 seats will be available for the West Ham fans at the Fortuna Arena due to UEFA policy, which is a major downgrade from the 60,000 that regularly watch them play Premier League games at the London Stadium. Black Market prices for one ticket are reported to be sold for over £9000.
Irrespective of how many West Ham fans are allowed to travel to the stadium for the game, West Ham is guaranteed to get very vocal support in the Europa Conference League final. That will include their heroic supporter Knollsy, who was a hero in the second leg of their Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar and protected the family members of some players from being harmed by nasty fans.
That itself ended up being a bonding moment between the West Ham players and the match-going fans, as well as raising the players’ motivational levels to win the competition. The Hammers’ stars will put in their everything to win the Conference League and can later groove to the Lucas Paqueta chant bellowing at the top of their voices.