Millwall goalkeeper Filip Marschall has accused West Ham forward Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos of spitting at him during a heated London derby at The Den.
The allegation concerns an incident that occurred midway through the second half of Saturday’s lunchtime Championship showdown in south London - the first instalment of the ‘Dockers Derby’ for 14 years, which ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw.
Marschall - making his league debut for Millwall after a summer switch from Stevenage - appeared to be warned for holding on to the ball for too long, with West Ham’s Pablo then tapping into an empty net with the whistle already gone.
West Ham thought they had a corner as per the eight-second rule for goalkeepers introduced at the start of last season to combat time-wasting, with plenty of confusion as Marschall remonstrated with referee Paul Tierney, who also spoke to captains Jake Cooper and Jarrod Bowen.
The reason for Marschall’s ire later became clear, with Sky Sports reporting following discussions between the Millwall bench and the fourth official that he had accused Castellanos of spitting at him.
The allegation was confirmed after the game by Millwall boss Alex Neil, who said: “I haven't asked him about it, but it's like anything else.
“I'm sure there'll be footage of it, or not of it, if it didn't happen. I'd be extremely surprised if Fil's made an accusation and nothing has happened.
“But that's not really for me to deal with, you know. I'm sure the authorities will deal with it.
“Certainly the fourth official, because I don't know what happened. I've just seen Fil walking out with the ball and thinking, ‘where's he going?’ Then the fourth official basically said that there was an accusation of spitting. So yeah, I don't know.
“I didn't get a chance to speak to Filip about it. But once I'm addressing the players after the game, that's not at the forefront of your mind.
“You know what I mean? That will get taken care of by the people who take care of those type of things. We are more focused on what happened on the pitch, how we performed, and then now the lads are due a well-deserved rest.”
West Ham counterpart Nuno Espirito Santo said he was aware of the allegation but had not seen any pictures or footage, or spoken to Castellanos.
“I am aware of the allegation,” Nuno said. “I didn't see the image, I didn't speak to Taty. I cannot go into that much.
"For me to answer that, I have to see it. I have to see it. I am going to look at the images. I cannot answer."
