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<\/p>\nThe heavens opened above the London Stadium – and seemingly inside it too.<\/p>\n
West Ham took on Serbian side Backa Topola in their opening Europa League clash of the season on Thursday night. And the players had to battle the conditions as well as their opponents.<\/p>\n
Torrential rain came down in east London and videos posted on social media showed the weather causing chaos on the concourses. One clip showed water pouring onto the concourse as fans seemingly took cover.<\/p>\n
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The solid ground was left almost flooded with huge puddles forming where fans would normally be queuing for food and drink. Though the weather did not stop the match from kicking off at its scheduled 8pm start.<\/p>\n
The Hammers went a goal behind to their opponents with David Moyes' side in the competition having won the European Conference League last season.<\/p>\n
Moyes had said: "I think the European competitions have got tougher. So many of the teams who were regular Champions League teams have found themselves in the Europa League, and quite a lot who were in the Europa League have found themselves in the Conference League.<\/p>\n
"European football is really, really strong \u2013 obviously the Champions League is always the one you want to be recognised for, but I think it\u2019s great that we\u2019ve got the Europa League.<\/p>\n
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TNT is the only place you can watch all the action from the Champions League this year. You can see every game from the group stage right through to the final as Manchester City look to defend their crown as the newest kings of the World's biggest and best football tournament.<\/p>\n
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"We\u2019re thrilled that we\u2019re in it again, two years out of three, and I do believe that the competition has got tougher from when we were in it two years ago.<\/p>\n
"To have Liverpool and Brighton from the Premier League \u2013 you can see the form that Brighton are in and the history that Liverpool have in European football \u2013 and that\u2019s just talking about the British team, never mind those from other countries.<\/p>\n
"You\u2019ve also got to remember that we\u2019re waiting on whoever finishes third in their Champions League group to drop back into this competition too. So to talk about who could be favourites at this stage is not really worthwhile."<\/p>\n