West Ham United manager David Moyes has labelled Wednesday's Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina as "the biggest moment" of his career.
The 60-year-old has taken charge of six different clubs across his 25-year managerial career, but he is yet to get his hands on a major trophy.
The Hammers navigated their way to the Europa League semi-finals last season before losing out to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt, and they have since gone one better this term by reaching their first European final for 47 years in the Europa Conference League.
West Ham, who beat AZ Alkmaar 3-1 over two legs in the semi-finals, must come out on top against Serie A outfit Fiorentina if they wish to lift their first European trophy since winning the 1965 Cup Winners' Cup under the tutelage of John Lyall.
Moyes and co spent a few days training in Portugal before travelling to Prague to continue their final preparations at the Strahov Training Centre ahead of Wednesday's showdown with Fiorentina at the 20,000-seater Fortuna Arena.
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The Scotsman has described the showpiece event as the "pinnacle" for both himself and the Hammers and he has expressed his excitement to be the man tasked to lead his side from the touchline.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Moyes said: "It's great to be sitting here in the first place. Whether you're an experienced manager or a young one, sitting here for a final is the pinnacle. Hopefully this is just the start for us. I'm enjoying this one and enjoying the moment with everybody.
"This is the biggest moment of my career. To be a football coach for as long as I have must mean I'm doing something right.
"There are a lot of very good coaches out there but, for those young coaches, they have to see if they can do 20 or 25 years in the business."
Moyes added: "What does it mean to West Ham to be in a European final? I think if we said this at the start of the season, people wouldn't have believed it.
"It's a big achievement to get through to a European final. It's not easy to get all the way through and we've been competitive. It's a great achievement for all the players and the next part is to see if we can go on and win it."
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Moyes is confident that his West Ham side can prevail against a Fiorentina outfit who have scored more goals (36) than any other team in this year's competition, and believes that having a "plan B and plan C" up his sleeve will be important for Wednesday's final.
"I think there are two different cultures playing this game. Italian culture and British culture," said Moyes. "But I have every faith our team can go about things the right way, do it professionally, learn from last season and fight for everything we possibly can.
"I think you're continuously thinking about how we're going to play, how we'll cause problems and how they'll cause us problems. But I also think having plan B and plan C is important. The most important thing is being prepared and doing the things that got you to this place in the first place.
"We're unbeaten this season and we got to the semi-final last season so our record in Europe is very good. Hopefully we can continue that."
West Ham, who have never faced Fiorentina in a competitive match, are yet to lose in this season's Europa Conference League, winning 13 and drawing one of their 14 matches including qualifiers.
Oliver Thomas
