Picture Credit: Twitter
Ten-men West Ham pulled off a 1-1 draw against Lyon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final in the wee hours of Friday. The Hammers hosted Ligue 1 side, Lyon, in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final clash on Thursday night. Moyes' men had seen Aaron Creswell sent off in the first half but managed to take the lead through Jarrod Bowen's second-half strike.
Lyon's Tanguy Ndombele netted the equalisers for the visitors, but West Ham was playing an aggressive game to take lead in the contest. One such close opportunity came around 85 minutes of the play when Bowen set Michail Antonio free down the right-wing. The striker entered the box before facing a tackle from the opposition. Bowen, who was taking the ball towards the net, attempted to break through, but a fan jumped over the hoarding and ran onto the pitch with his arms up in celebration.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, West Ham was looking to make the mark in the game, but the interruption from self-claimed Hammer's fan forced the referee Felix Zwayer to bring the game to a halt. Furious with the unlikely interruption, BT Sport commentator Ian Darke could not control his frustration and said, "There really are some idiots around, aren't there?" The pitch invader was tackled by three stewards, with the crowd heard loudly jeering him and Moyes carrying a look of disgust on his face. Fans on social media were also left fuming and roundly slammed the invader.
Commenting on the interruption, angry Moyes said, "I was utterly disappointed by the fans invading the pitch during play. It's an excellent football club doing so many good things to improve. But those things didn't help the team."