TEMPERS flared on the touchline as a West Ham coach was sent-off during their clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
The freshly-crowned German champions emerged triumphant as tonight’s 1-1 draw earned them a 3-1 aggregrate victory and a place in the Europa League semis.
The visitors headed to the London Stadium with a 2-0 aggregate lead for the Europa League quarter final second leg.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen remained unbeaten in all competitions this term but they found themselves behind early doors in the East End.
Michail Antonio got the Hammers off to a dream start as he broke the deadlock on 13 minutes.
However, the blood and thunder clash then saw tensions boil over just before the half hour mark.
Suddenly, several members from both the West Ham and Leverkusen benches started pushing and shoving and dishing out the verbals on the sidelines.
Eventually, the referee dished out a red card to David Moyes’ coach Billy McKinlay.
A member of the away side’s staff was also dismissed.
However, while the officials were sorting out that trouble, more erupted back on the pitch.
Most read in Football
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
Goalscorer Antonio and opposition star Jonathan Tah were suddenly going head-to-head, sparking another melee between the players.
Alonso attempted to try and restore order and subbed off Odilon Kossounou.
But the game remained on a knife-edge throughout the rest of the first half.
The Hammers huffed and puffed for a way back but Jeremie Frimpong’s late leveller even denied them the consolation of becoming the first side to beat Leverkusen.
That comes after Moyes hit out at Alonso and his staff following the first leg as he labelled them a “disgrace”.
Hammers duo Lucas Paqueta and Emerson were suspended for tonight after picking up their third yellows in the competition last week.
The Brazilian midfielder picked up the booking for a rash challenge on Amine Adli.
Leverkusen’s players and bench were furious over the tackle, surrounding the referee and pushing Paqueta.
After the game, Moyes fumed at the reaction from the soon to be Bundesliga champions, saying: “He will be a huge miss but I thought their bench was a disgrace.
“He [the referee] got surrounded. I thought it was disgraceful and was really disappointing.
“Did they get him booked? I think so. You should let the referee make the decision and not the way they reacted to the incident.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“I thought it was a rule all the way through. We would not all run off and surround him.
“It was a poor thing for them to do and they are a good side and they didn’t need to react like that.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
