A West Ham United player since the age of eight, a first-team debutant last season, and now a fully fledged UEFA Europa League footballer; Aji Alese had plenty of reason to smile at London Stadium come Thursday evening.
The U23s captain, who has been in outstanding form for the Premier League 2 table-topping development squad this season, admitted that his winner’s instinct led to bittersweet feelings about the 1-0 defeat to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb.
Given pause to reflect, Alese did however admit he had cause to smile, having been one of six Academy of Football graduates to start Thursday’s game.
The imposing centre-back is more used to playing in front of crowds of a couple of hundred rather than the multiple tens of thousands inside London Stadium, but the evening gave Alese a taste of the level he and his U23s teammates aspire to regularly reach.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” Alese told BT Sport.
“I obviously would have preferred to get a result from the game, whether it be a draw or a win, but playing my first European game was obviously an amazing achievement.
“To do it with so many other U23s players was great as well. We’ve been playing very well for the U23s this season and we’re all very good friends, so to do it with them was even better.”
The 20-year-old’s European debut arrived at the culmination of an unforgettable spell for Alese and a number of other young Hammers, who have trained with first-team stars and staff all week.
Alese recalled: “We found out on Monday that we might be involved, but obviously things can change during the week.
“Then, we found out yesterday that we were definitely starting. Just from then, we had to prepare and get our minds ready for the game.
“[There were] nerves at first, but then when I thought about it – European debut, maybe 60,000 in the Stadium, live on BT Sport – I got very excited!
“You have to keep your head down and keep working hard, and try and impress whenever you get a chance to.”
Alese used his physicality to good effect against technically sound European opposition, who needed a point to qualify from Group H, whereas West Ham United had already sealed top spot.
Putting himself about, the centre-back twice came close to scoring an equalising goal in injury time, only for the ball to evade him at the last.
Nevertheless, the defender took numerous lessons from the experience.
“I think if I were a shoe size bigger, maybe I would’ve got a goal!” he smiled.
“I’d say the game’s a lot quicker [than with the U23s]. Maybe if I make one mistake it could end up in a goal, whereas at U23s level, maybe I could make two or three mistakes before it ends up in a goal, so you just have to be that little bit sharper and switched on, and ready at all times.”
Alese also hailed the influence of captain Mark Noble, who started the game, and his senior colleagues, who assisted the Academy youngsters throughout the 90 minutes.
He explained: “Nobes, obviously coming through, we all look up to, being an Academy graduate. They [the senior players] helped us through the game.”