Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso has branded West Ham as “animals” following the Hammers’ 2-1 victory in the Europa Conference League final.
Jarrod Bowen scored a late winner for the Premier League club after Said Benrahma’s penalty was ruled out by Giacomo Bonaventura’s strike, earning David Moyes’ side their first major trophy in 43 years.
Much of the first-half analysis was about the behaviour of the West Ham fans, who decided to throw plastic cups at Cristiano Biraghi every time he went over to take a corner from the right-hand side.
The Fiorentina captain was left bleeding after being struck in the head, which forced play to be stopped so he could receive treatment.
And Commisso was unhappy with Spanish referee Carlos del Cerro Grande after Luka Jovic was forced off at half-time with a broken nose. The Serbian also had a goal ruled out for an extremely marginal offside.
Obviously quite bitter about the defeat, the Italian club’s president said the result was not a fair one and revealed he has spoken to Premier League chief Richard Masters.
“What should I say? I expected a victory,” Commisso told reporters in Florence.
“But there were cases where the referee should have done better. Jovic broke his nose, then Biraghi.
“I spoke to the Premier League president, telling him they are all animals for how they treated our footballers.
“The defeat is not fair. We could have won 3-0, I am sorry for the fans who deserved more.”
There was a bit of pressure on Moyes going into the final in Prague, .
West Ham chairman David Sullivan has now confirmed that Moyes will remain manager if he is happy to do so.
“David had a contract with us and has a contract with us until next summer and next summer we’ll look at it again.
“Until then, if he wants to remain as manager then he will remain as manager of West Ham.”
, with Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United all keen.
He said: “He set his heart on going. You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season.
“In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement – or several replacements.
“It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down.”
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