The match between AZ Alkmaar and West Ham ended in complete chaos.
Security measures failed miserably when Dutch AZ Alkman and English West Ham met in the Conference League semi-final second leg on Thursday evening.
When the match ended, Alkmaar’s Ultra supporters, dressed in black, came to the far stands, where there were a small number of West Ham supporters and, among other things, family members of West Ham players.
The fight turned into complete mayhem.
Some West Ham supporters tried to keep the Dutch hooligans at bay. When players on the London team realized their families were being threatened, they tried to get past security guards and into the stands to protect their loved ones.
Among the players, star strikers Michael Antonio and Said Banarma tried to get into the center of the fight, reports the BBC.
Videos of this fierce clash are going viral on social media. for example you can see them from here And from here,
West Ham’s victory celebrations took a nasty turn. Photo: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / Reuters
It could have been a revenge attack, as in the semi-final first leg in London last week, the families of Alkmaar players were threatened by West Ham fans.
Although the matter was not threatening on Thursday, but in reality the fists were shaken.
– Worryingly, family members and friends of West Ham are probably in that part of the stands. These are very unpleasant scenes. West Ham players are being detained. I can see fists swinging from here, BBC Radio commentator Alistair Bruce-Ball explained.
West Ham manager David Moyes said after the game that the trouble began precisely because the players’ families were in the part of the stand that was attacked by hooligans.
– Many players got annoyed when they didn’t get to see if their loved ones were okay or not. We will have to wait and ask the authorities what exactly happened. All I can say is that the players pitched in because it was a family area, he said in the BBC article.
Moyes said he was concerned because his family was in the same part of the stand.
AZ head coach Pascal Jansson also recalled the unpleasant events of the past week.
What happened last week was unfortunate. Now tonight’s events also gave me a similar feeling. I am a bit embarrassed that this happened in our stadium, but you have to control your emotions.
West Ham won the match 1–0 and progressed to the Conference League Final 3–1 on aggregate.
