Declan Rice could face retrospective punishment from UEFA after accusing referee Jesus Gil of corruption as West Ham suffered Europa League heartache at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Trailing 2-1 from the semi-final first leg at the London Stadium, the Hammers knew only a win would suffice in Germany to reach the Europa League final in Seville later this month. But what was already a daunting task became an insurmountable one when Aaron Cresswell was shown a red card after just 19 minutes.
Frankfurt quickly made their numerical advantage pay when Rafael Borre gave the hosts a 1-0 lead on the night and a 3-1 aggregate advantage over the tie. David Moyes’s side pushed for a way back into the contest but were left frustrated, with the Hammers manager also shown a red card in the closing stages.
The visitors were clearly angry with the Spanish official after several decisions went against them, with Frankfurt ultimately booking a place in the final against Rangers. And while Rice offered a somewhat diplomatic verdict on the officials in his media commitments, his stance was very different in the tunnel.
In footage obtained by Fox Sports Mexico, the Hammers midfielder can be seen calling the referee over before shouting: “It’s so poor, all night it’s so bad. How can you be that bad? Honestly, you’ve probably been f****** paid. F****** corruption.”
UEFA are waiting on the referee's match report before deciding whether to take any action against Rice.
A West Ham spokesperson added: “The club is aware of the video circulating on social media but will not be commenting further until the referee’s report from the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt has been considered.”
Speaking following the game, Rice admitted that the decision to dismiss Cresswell was probably correct, but bemoaned the ref’s overall performance and claimed he was “against them”.
“The sending off was probably a sending off but some of the other decisions were poor tonight,” Rice told BT Sport. “The ref seemed to make every decision go for them. When you have someone against you, you can’t do much.”
Moyes was also unhappy with the officials and when asked if he had an issues with the red card incident, he responded: "Lots of complaints, yeah. Really disappointed. Things didn't go for us on the night. Small things didn't happen but I am really proud of the players.
"How they played with 10 men was fantastic. They stayed in it. Other teams would have folded and lost two or three. The boys here are great. Tough boys. I thought we tried. We created chances. I thought we had better chances than Frankfurt. But we congratulate them. They go through, we don't and we give them our best wishes.
"I don't feel any of that [pride] at the moment. I just feel disappointment as I felt this was a chance. We have played better teams probably than Frankfurt.
"Let's be honest, we probably lost the game in the first 30 seconds at the London Stadium when we conceded. We were chasing the game since.
"We have enjoyed being in the competition. Not sure we have enjoyed the officiating. We have a pretty good team so I think we can try again. We will be a bit wiser and can hopefully do it more often."
