April 19th 2024.
The West Ham and Bayer Leverkusen teams found themselves locked in a tense battle on the touchline during their Europa League match at the London Stadium. Xabi Alonso, a former player and current coach, believed that the heated exchange between the two teams' coaching staff was a result of the previous leg's clash. In that match, West Ham had suffered a devastating loss, conceding two late goals in Germany. However, they were determined to make a comeback in the second leg and got off to a strong start with a goal from Michail Antonio after just 14 minutes.
Despite their early lead, West Ham was unable to secure a second goal and Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong equalized in the 89th minute, sealing a 1-1 draw and a 3-1 win on aggregate for the German team. This also extended Leverkusen's unbeaten streak to 44 games, setting a new record for a club in Europe's top five leagues. Last week, West Ham manager David Moyes had criticized Leverkusen's conduct and accused their coaching staff of influencing the referee's decision to give one of their players a yellow card, which resulted in him being suspended for the second leg.
Tempers flared once again between the two benches during the match, resulting in West Ham's assistant coach, Billy McKinlay, and Leverkusen's coach, Sebastian Parrilla, being sent off by the Spanish referee, Jose Maria Sanchez. When asked if this altercation was connected to the previous clash, Alonso slyly replied with a smile, "I wouldn't say no." The former player also admitted that he was concerned during the match, as Leverkusen had a poor start and were struggling on the pitch. However, instead of being nervous, he was focused on finding ways to make an impact and improve the team's performance in the second half.
Meanwhile, Moyes was not pleased with the officiating of the Spanish referee, stating that he felt his performance was poor. He went on to say that having worked in Spain and watched a lot of Spanish football, he had an idea of how things were, and if that was representative of the current state of the game, he wouldn't be interested in watching more Spanish matches.
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