West Ham players confront AZ Alkmaar fans after ‘awful scenes’ as family section attacked
West Ham players confront AZ Alkmaar fans who attacked an area in which friends and family are watching the match. …
West Ham players confronted a group of AZ Alkmaar fans who attacked an area in which friends and family were watching the teams’ Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma were among those who tried to intervene in the clashes moments after the Premier League team had reached the final.
BBC commentator Alistair Bruce-Ball, who was inside the stadium, said he saw punches being thrown by the AZ fans.
“These are awful scenes,” he said.
During last week’s first leg at London Stadium, family members of AZ players had been involved in a confrontation with West Ham fans.
Hammers manager David Moyes said his players were angered by what had happened in the AFAS Stadion.
“We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle to see what it is but the biggest problem is that is the area where the players have all their families in,” he said.
“That is where the problem came, and a lot of players were getting angry because they couldn’t get to see if they were OK.
“We’ll have to wait and ask the officials what really happened. I can only tell you that players were involved because that was the family area.”
West Ham reached their first major European final since 1976 by beating their Dutch opponents 1-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
Moyes, who said his own family and friends were in the section that was attacked, added: “What I don’t want to do in any way is blight our night. It wasn’t West Ham supporters looking for trouble.
“Was I worried? Yeah, my family were there and I had friends in that section. You’re hoping they would try to get themselves away from it.
“Security wanted to take me inside, but I had to make sure my players weren’t involved.”
AZ boss Pascal Jansen said: “What happened last week was very unfortunate and then you get the same feeling as what happened tonight.
“I feel a little bit ashamed it happened in our stadium but you have to control your emotions.”
Former Hammers midfielder Joe Cole, who was part of the BT Sport team covering the match, said what happened was “absurd”.
“Grown men attacking the West Ham fans,” he said. “Players were trying to get involved to break it up.
“AZ Alkmaar fans turning up wearing balaclavas throwing punches is ridiculous. There were families.”
‘I can see punches being thrown’
Bruce-Ball, who was commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live in the AFAS Stadion, described the scenes as “unpleasant”.
“Some fans clad in dark coats and hoods up came racing down in front of the lower tier of the stand to voice their dissatisfaction, and there is trouble to our right-hand side,” he told listeners.
“The concern here is I think the West Ham family members and friends are in that section. Those are very, very unpleasant scenes.
“The West Ham players are being held back. I can see in the distance punches being thrown.”
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