Kurt Zouma admitted he is driven by the thought of lifting the UEFA Europa League trophy as West Ham United captain, ahead of his team’s return to the prestigious competition away at Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the quarter-finals.
The 29-year-old took over the reins as skipper following Declan Rice’s departure to Arsenal last summer, and so far in the role has led the Club to seventh in the Premier League table, and into a third successive European last-eight tie.
Having featured prominently on West Ham’s run to UEFA Europa Conference League glory in Prague last June, Zouma is again aiming high, with hopes that such experiences can help them ultimately lift more silverware this term.
“Getting my hands on the trophy and lifting it would be awesome,” said Zouma, who has scored six goals in 95 appearances since swapping Chelsea for London Stadium in August 2021. “It’s something you dream of as a child.
“Just winning a trophy was amazing. We did that last year, and now we want more, because we just want to win as many games as possible and keep making our fans happy.
“Being West Ham captain is a huge honour. It’s the first time I’ve taken on a role like that at a big Club, and leading the team out of the tunnel in big Premier League and European games is an incredible feeling. Hopefully there are many more to come!”
After beating SC Freiburg in the Europa League round of 16, another trip to Germany beckons for Zouma and the Claret and Blue Army on Thursday, with current Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen standing in the way of a spot in the last four.
Xabi Alonso’s side are yet to taste defeat in any of their 41 outings in all competitions during 2023/24, but the Irons’ No4 is confident he and his teammates have what it takes to bring such an impressive run to an end.
Zouma added: “We know it’s going to be very tough, but that would have been the case against any of the teams we could have drawn at this stage of the competition.
“We know they haven’t lost for a long time now, but it’s up to us to be the team to change that. We need to beat the best if we want to get through and go all the way, and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.
“We won the Conference League last year, and we got to the Europa League semi-finals the season before, so we have a lot of experience and belief. We know what we’re capable of, and we’ll go to Leverkusen full of belief.”
