West Ham United manager David Moyes has said that he had family and friends in the section which AZ Alkmaar fans targeted in the post-match crowd trouble.
On Thursday night, Pablo Fornals’ stoppage time goal sealed a 1-0 win over Alkmaar to cement a place in the final in Prague next month, but the game was marred by ugly scenes at full-time as Alkmaar fans broke down a fence to head towards the VIP area where West Ham’s players’ family, friends and ex-players were in the crowd.
Speaking after the game, Moyes confirmed that his family and friends were in that area but did not want the incident to tarnish the occasion of West Ham reaching their first European final since 1976
David Moyes said: “I can’t explain what happened or why it happened. I can only tell you that players were involved because it was the family section, where most of their family and friends were sat in. I think that is why, seeing friends and family in that area. That was probably the reason for the reaction. What I don’t want in any way is that to blight tonight because it wasn’t the West Ham fans who were looking for trouble. They were happy to celebrate at the end of the game. Hopefully, they will look into and find the reasons why. My family were there and I had friends in that section. I think you’re hoping they would try and get themselves away from it, I had a couple of friends in that area. I didn’t recognise it because I was too happy to go on to the pitch and see the other people and the referee before I left. Security wanted to take me inside but I had to make sure the players were not going to get involved in it.”
West Ham will face Fiorentina in the final after they beat Basel 4-3 on aggregate in the other semi-final on Thursday night.
