West Ham United goalkeeper Alphonse Areola admits he was left “very worried” by the disturbing scenes that followed the Hammers’ win over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night.
A 1-0 victory at the AFAS Stadion for West Ham saw them book a place into next month’s Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague, but the achievement of reaching a first European final in 47 years was partially marred by ugly scenes at full-time when a group of AZ fans broke through a fence before attempting to attack those sat in the family and VIP section of the stadium, where many of the London side's players’ family were situated.
In the incident, Lucas Paqueta, Said Benrahma, Flynn Downes, Aaron Cresswell, and Michail Antonio were among the players pictured going over the barricade in their attempts to diffuse the citation.
READ MORE: Every word from Moyes on West Ham vs AZ Alkmaar fan trouble and Europa Conference League final
Areola, who is the only player to start in all 14 of West Ham’s matches in the competition this season, said that he had family in that section and was left concerned about their welfare.
“They were a bit far from the incident. We were a bit worried about them, you know?” Areola said. “Security is the most important thing in a stadium, especially in this kind of event and we were worried about our families.
“We were very worried about our families. It’s just about security and it was a bit too open for the opposing fans. At the end, they managed to stop them.
“When families or fans are coming to the stadium we don’t want to see things like that. They want to enjoy the event and we want to enjoy it with them as well. We were worried about them.”
The win came late on as substitute Pablo Fornals came off the bench and netted a brilliant finish, having won a tackle on the halfway and nutmegging AZ captain Jordy Clasie before shooting past ex-Arsenal and Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
For Fornals, it was his sixth goal of the season in all competitions, three of which have come in Europe. Fornals’ celebrations were delayed as he had to go for a doping test straight after the match, but Areola said he congratulated Fornals, and thanked the Spaniard for his crucial goal.
“I'm really happy for him,” Areola added. “It was a tough game tonight, a close game and he came in and score, he was unlucky to be picked by the doping testers so he wasn't with us celebrating in the locker room. I went to him and said well done, thank you for your goal because it helped us to reach that final.”
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