19 May 2023 , 06:51
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David Moyes revealed his West Ham players waded over the barrier to protect their families after the Hammers' triumph was tarnished by hooligan shame.
Moments after substitute Pablo Fornals' 94th-minute winner sent the Irons into their first European final since 1976, black-shirted AZ Alkmaar thugs in balaclavas ran along the front of a stand to attack a contingent of West Ham fans celebrating behind the away dugout. Flynn Downes, Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma and Aaron Cresswell all jumped over the barrier to offer their support.
But Moyes, through to only his second major final in almost 1,100 games as a manager - where the Irons will play Italian side Fiorentina - said: "I can't explain what happened or why it happened, but there were players involved because it was the section containing their families and friends. I don't want that to put a blight on the night because it wasn't West Ham fans who were looking for trouble."
Asked if his 87-year-old father, David senior, and other members of his family were in the section affected, Moyes confirmed: "Yes, but you hope they will to get themselves away from it. I was on the pitch at the end and security wanted to take me inside but I wanted to make sure the players didn't get too involved.
"We'll need to wait for the dust to settle but a lot of the players were getting angry because they couldn't see if their families were OK. We will have to wait and ask the officials what really happened.
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David Moyes senior attended the match and was caught up in the ambush (EMPICS Sport)"To get to a European final, after going so close last year, is a fantastic achievement but maybe we shouldn't be too surprised because we've won 13 and drawn one of our games in Europe. I spoke to the players about the disappointment we all felt in Frankfurt last year, and how we didn't want to feel that way again after a semi-final."
Hammers 'keeper Alphonse Areola added: "We were a bit worried about them, you know? Security is the most important thing in a stadiums specially in this kind of event and we were worried about our families.
"When families or fans are coming to the stadium we don't want to see things like that. They want to enjoy the event and we want to enjoy it with them as well. We were worried about them."
West Ham's supporters and their players' relatives were attacked by AZ Alkmaar fans (Angelo Blankespoor/Soccrates/Getty Images)Alkmaar coach Pascal Jansen, a Londoner born in Hendon, admitted: "I feel a bit ashamed that those scenes happened in our stadium. It shouldn't be happening – the game didn't go as we hoped, but you have to stay in control of your emotions."
West Ham captain Declan Rice is now 90 minutes from following in the footsteps of Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds as the only Hammers captains to lift a trophy in the club's history. Rice said: "Everyone speaks about Bobby Moore all the time, his name lives on forever and of course I am trying to write history as the captain of West Ham to do that as well.
West Ham's players like Jarrod Bowen attempted to protect their families (Angelo Blankespoor/Soccrates/Getty Images)Have your say! Will West Ham win the Europa Conference League final? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
"But also for the lads as well, all of our names will be written into history if we can win this. One more game now, we will give it absolutely everything and we just want to make our fans proud, our family proud and we've done that tonight."
West Ham will face Fiorentina in Prague on Wednesday, June 7.