Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

The presence of AZ's very famous minor shareholder in the directors' box brought a touch of glamour to the evening, even if Billy Beane himself is no Brad Pitt, who played the 61-year-old in the film of how his Moneyball data analytics theory transformed the fortunes of the Oakland Athletics' MLB franchise.

There was no fantasy to AZ's approach either.

It soon become apparent they would be happy to take their time with set-pieces, stroke es around their back-line and generally try to prevent West Ham gaining any momentum.

AZ have never beaten an English side away from home in six previous attempts. For a long time, it did appear as though that unhappy statistic was about to change.

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How about this for a good omen for West Ham?

In Monday's Eurovision semi-final, the Netherlands crashed out.

I'm sure you won't need reminding that in 2021 Italy did the Euros-Eurovision double.

What happens on stage, often repeats itself on the pitch...

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Edoardo Bove's second-half goal gave Jose Mourinho's Roma the advantage over Bayer Leverkusen after the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

The 20-year-old ed into the bottom corner after Tammy Abraham's shot was saved to score his first European goal.

If they advance to the final, Mourinho would hope to maintain an outstanding record - he guided Roma to success in the Europa Conference League last season and has won his previous five European finals in charge of Porto, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.

The game saw Mourinho up against his former player at Real Madrid in Xavi Alonso, with the Spaniard, now manager at Leverkusen, having previously played 151 games for the Portuguese manager over three seasons.

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Sevilla dominated in Turin for large periods but were left to rue missed chances by En-Nesyri and Ocampos.

The La Liga side, who knocked out Manchester United in the quarter-finals, have won the Europa League a record six times, most recently in 2020.

They had 13 shots including five on target, and arguably should have left Turin with a bigger advantage with En-Nesyri taking too long to shoot when through on goal moments after his opener.

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Elsewhere in Europe tonight Federico Gatti scored a 97th-minute equaliser to earn Juventus a draw against Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

Gatti headed in from two yards after Paul Pogba superbly kept the ball in as a Danilo header was set to drift wide.

It cancelled out Youssef En-Nesyri's 26th-minute goal, with the striker stroking in Lucas Ocampos' cross.

Juventus were lacklustre for most of the game, with Gatti's header only their second effort on target in the game.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

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Said Benrahma has frustrated David Moyes at times this season.

Signed from Brentford in 2020 in a deal that could rise to £30m, Benrahma has never quite hit the heights many feel he is capable of on a consistent basis.

Moyes has pushed the Algerian to improve his end product, believing that holds the key to unlocking a true attacking menace.

And at London Stadium on Thursday, Benrahma delivered.

West Ham United

West Ham manager David Moyes speaking to BT Sport: "[I'm] Pleased we're in front. It was a strange game to analyse they played well in the build-up and made us make decisions. We were a bit harum-scarum. We made some stupid decisions, shooting from 30 yards at time and not taking chances. But in the end, I'm happy with the result.

"It was poor decisions, when you get in the right positions, you have to make the right decisions. You have to choose when to cross or or shoot and I thought our decision-making in the first half wasn't good.

"I think we felt it was a tough night. Everybody felt it in the stadium. We've learnt from last year, one of the things was not to get involved with the referees or get too caught up in it. We've come out on top tonight. We have to make sure we do that again in the next leg.

"The atmosphere was very good. Their goal and a few of the referee decisions were hard to take. But overall, our goal got us back in it. We were the team trying to score more than they were.

"We've got a really tough game to come. I'm too humble [to say we're already in the final] I understand there is another club who will be listening to every word I say. They have some good players and they showed it tonight."

West Ham manager David Moyes is speaking to BT Sport. Full quotes from him to come.

The boys:

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Glenn Murray
Former Brighton striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

West Ham do have a much needed advantage going into the second leg, but I don't think you should be approaching a game in the mindset of protecting something.

I would have liked to see West Ham impose themselves [this evening]. When you boil it down, West Ham have got better individuals, and if they had taken the game to Alkmaar, it would have been a very different result.

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Confident ahead of the second leg then Hammers fans? Hit the thumbs please.

West Ham United

West Ham goalscorer Michail Antonio speaking to BT Sport: "It definitely was [a tough game], from watching what they've done we knew they would play football and they're a decent team.

"We made it difficult for ouselves, we had chances, we just needed to be more clinical. In the end we got the result.

"We know they're a possession-based team, they know how to work it.

"We were like 'alright, we're let you have it, and on the counter we'll damage you'."

"I was hoping I dropped on a couple of other things but it dropped on me perfectly [for my goal]. I got the goal, we got the win and we move on to next week."

FC Basel won away to Fiorentina by the way in the other Europa Conference League semi-final first leg. Zeki Amdouni scored a 92nd-minute winner.

James Collins
Former West Ham defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

It wasn't a classic West Ham performance.

For all the hype and talk before the game, maybe the side felt the pressure a little bit, and took Alkmaar for granted a little bit and didn't perform.

In the second half, they came out and played slightly better. They did enough to win the game, but you have to give Alkmaar every credit for the way they came into the game and nullified West Ham.

Image source, Reuters

That Federico Gatti header was practically the last action of the game.

How crucial could that be?

Glenn Murray
Former Brighton striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

AZ Alkmaar were probably the better of the two teams, but at this stage of the competition, they weren't pretty West Ham but they got the job done.

David Moyes would have liked a bigger advantage going to the Netherlands because Alkmaar have a history of turning teams over at home.

But it is all about getting to Prague on 7th June - it's not about how you do it, it's about getting there.

They are heading to the Netherlands with an advantage, and at this stage of the competition, that is massive.

Image source, Reuters

Jose Mourinho's Roma will take a one-goal advantage to next Thursday.