West Ham United qualified for a European cup final for the first time in 47 years after defeating AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League on Thursday but the home fans almost spoilt the party for the Premier League side.
In the first leg of the European Conference Leg semi-final tie, West Ham United defeated AZ Alkmaar 2-1 at the London Stadium. While in the second leg, the Premier League club stunned the Dutch club in front of their home fans to reach their first European final since 1976 3-1 on aggregate.
The outcome of the tie showed that
West Ham had learned their lesson by making a cool-headed effort to win the game after being eliminated from the Europa League semifinals a little over a year earlier due to a sloppy performance against Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg.
The Europa Conference League final which will take place on June 7 in Prague, is between West Ham United and Fiorentina, which overcame Basel in the 129th minute to reach the final.
If West Ham manage to capture their first major trophy since 1980, they will qualify for the Europa League the following season. They are presently ranked 15th in the Premier League.
While the players and the traveling fans of West Ham United celebrated their team’s triumph over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night, fans of the host team sparked a kind of riot at the AFAS Stadion.
The rioting fans reportedly targeted the section of the stadium where the family members and friends of the Premier League footballers were sitting. Hence, the AZ fans ruined the post-game celebration of the Premier League side.
West Ham United fans fighting to prevent AZ Alkmaar Fans from getting to the families of the players.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, West Ham’s coach, David Moyes said: “We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle to see what it is but the biggest problem is that is the area where the players have all their families in, friends and family.
“That is where the problem came and a lot of players were getting angry because they couldn’t get to see if they were okay. But look, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and ask the officials what really happened.”
