West Ham news LIVE: Reaction after Fiorentina final as fans clash with riot police
Danny Dyer and James Corden are among the celebrity fans celebrating after the Hammers claimed Europa Conference League glory in Prague
West Ham United players and staff will be recovering from the joy of winning their first major trophy for 43 years after beating Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final in what proved to be a dramatic night on and off the pitch in Prague.
Jarrod Bowen’s 89th-minute goal gave the Hammers the most memorable of 2-1 wins, with celebrity supporters such as James Corden and Danny Dyer – whose daughter Dani is Bowen’s partner – celebrating the triumph. However, the match had earlier been marred when West Ham fans pelted Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi with objects as he went to take a corner in the first half and left him bleeding from a gash in the back of his head.
Hammers supporters then later clashed with riot police in Prague after setting off flares in celebration of victory, as a scuffle broke out after police officers tried to confiscate a lit flare in the Old Town area of the city. Riot police stormed a group after they lit a second flare, with fans responding by pelting the officers with bottles and missiles.
Earlier in the day, Czech police said they had detained at least 16 Fiorentina fans after they attacked West Ham supporters outside a bar, with videos shared on social media showing chairs and fireworks being thrown.
Follow all the latest news and reaction from West Ham’s European adventure below:
Violent clashes between West Ham and Fiorentina fans lead to arrests ahead of European final
Not only was there trouble after the game in Prague last night but also violence ahead of the fixture.
Czech police detained 16 people after violent clashes between West Ham and Fiorentina fans marred the build-up to the final.
A group of black-clad Fiorentina fans attacked Hammers supporters in a bar in central Prague on Wednesday afternoon, injuring three patrons, authorities said
Videos on social media showed fans setting off flares and throwing tables at the bar located just off Prague’s Old Town Square. A police officer was also attacked.
“Italy fans attacked West Ham fans in a bar on Rytirska street, injuring three,” Czech police said on Twitter. “A police officer was also attacked. We have restricted the personal liberty of 16 people.”
Witnesses claimed the Italians were armed with “chains and belt buckles” and fans of the Italian side are said to have thrown flares and firecrackers as they approached the West Ham supporters.
‘Best feeling I’ve ever had’: Jarrod Bowen reacts to West Ham’s ‘surreal’ win against Fiorentina
Jarrod Bowen has described West Ham winning the Europa Conference League as the “best moment of [his] career.”
The 26-year-old scored the goal which secured the club’s first piece of silverware since the 1980 FA Cup and their first European trophy since 1965.
Bowen slotted past Pietro Terracciano to earn the Hammers a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in Prague. “I can’t sum up... it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my career,” Bowen told a post-match press conference.
West Ham end trophy drought in most dramatic style as Jarrod Bowen plays the hero
Jarrod Bowen’s last-minute winner saw West Ham United end their 43-year wait for a trophy with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.
The Hammers won their first piece of silverware since 1980’s FA Cup, and a first European trophy since 1965, on a historic and emotional night in Prague.
Yes, it may be only Europe’s third-tier competition, the one treated as an unwanted distraction by Tottenham, among others, in its inaugural form last season. But this is West Ham. The West Ham who routinely see relegation as an occupational hazard. The West Ham who made a song and dance of leaving their old stadium and an almighty hash of moving into the new one. The West Ham who had to go begging to their former manager to save them from the drop, 18 months after they got rid of him when he had done just that.
Just nine weeks ago that same manager watched as the away fans unfurled a “Moyes Out” banner during a scratchy 1-0 win over Fulham, which likely saved his job. Now David Moyes has written his name in West Ham folklore, joining Ron Greenwood and John Lyall as trophy-winning Hammers managers. A place in next season’s Europa League means the club has qualified for Europe three campaigns in a row, for the first time.
West Ham end trophy drought in most dramatic style as Jarrod Bowen plays the hero
West Ham 2-1 Fiorentina: An 89th-minute winner rounded off a dramatic game that also saw Cristiano Biraghi left bleeding after being hit by an object thrown from the crowd
West Ham open-top bus parade route
A victory parade is planned for Thursday evening after West Ham fans and players celebrated into the early hours following the club’s Europa Conference League win.
The playing squad and coaching staff will parade the club’s first major trophy since 1980 on an open-top bus through the streets of east London.
The parade will leave the Hammers’ old home at Upton Park at 7pm and travel to a reception at Stratford Town Hall at about 8pm.
It will start at the junction of Green Street and Barking Road, adjacent to the Boleyn Pub and The Champions Statue, before proceeding west along Barking Road, turn right on to Greengate Street, and continue along the A112 past Plaistow Park, Plaistow Station and Stratford Park, before ending its journey on West Ham Lane, outside the Old Town Hall in Stratford.
Reporting by PA
West Ham fans leave Fiorentina player bleeding after being hit by objects thrown from crowd
West Ham United fans left a Fiorentina player bleeding from the back of his head after they pelted him with objects thrown from the crowd during the Europa Conference League final.
Cristiano Biraghi was struck on the head by something thrown from the West Ham end as he went to take a corner in the first half. He appeared to be pelted with cups of beer and a vape pen, while the assistant referee also looked to have been struck.
Play was temporarily stopped as Biraghi received treatment from the physios with blood pouring from the back of his head, although he was able to continue playing with a purple bandage around his head.
West Ham players came over to the stands to implore their fans to behave and a message over the PA system urged supporters to stop throwing objects onto the pitch before play resumed.
West Ham fans leave Fiorentina player bleeding after being hit by objects thrown
The Europa Conference League final was temporarily stopped as Cristiano Biraghi was treated by physios
West Ham fans fight riot police in Prague after Europa Conference League win
West Ham United fans clashed with riot police in Prague after setting off flares as they celebrated winning the Europa Conference League on Wednesday night.
Fans poured into the streets of the Czech capital following the Hammers’ victory over Fiorentina, with many already in the city centre after thousands of supporters travelled from the UK without tickets.
But a scuffle broke out after police officers tried to confiscate a lit flare as fans gathered in the Old Town area of the city.
Riot police stormed a group after they lit a second flare, with fans responding by pelting the officers with bottles and missiles.
West Ham fans fight riot police in Prague after Europa Conference League win
A scuffle broke out after police officers tried to confiscate a lit flare as fans gathered in the Old Town area of the city
West Ham chairman confirms likely Declan Rice departure
Speaking of Declan Rice’s potential transfer, West Ham chairman David Sullivan has been speaking about the situation this morning. He sounds pretty resigned to letting the talisman leave, after making a gentleman’s agreement to listen to offers from other clubs, even though he still has one year and another option year remaining on his contract.
Asked whether lifting the trophy in Prague was Rice’s last action as a West Ham player, Sullivan told talkSPORT: “I think it has to be. We promised him he could go.
“He set his heart on going and in due course he has to get on and we have to get a replacement.
“It is not something we wanted to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago and he turned it down. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.
“I think the offers will start to come today. Three or four clubs have shown interest but, out of respect to West Ham, while we’re still playing, you don’t make offers for players.”
A parting gift from Declan Rice
Declan Rice undoubtedly has a genuine connection with West Ham’s fans, having come through their academy to captain the team and become just the third skipper in the club’s history to lift a trophy.
Hammers supporters were chanting “one more year” to the midfielder, amid speculation he will leave for a bigger club this summer. Was the Europa Conference League trophy a parting gift from Rice?
Mass brawls, breathless hedonism and Jarrod Bowen: how West Ham gave me the night of my life
Our man Tom Peck was out in Prague and has written a lovely account of the joy, madness and disbelief surrounding the whole occasion for Indy Voices.
“If you happen to support West Ham United, it doesn’t feel inaccurate to say that out in the Prague suburbs, in a stadium that looks like a Premier Inn and is barely any bigger than the Tesco Extra over the road, everything changed,” writes Tom.
“It was not so much a football match as a makeover. It was like finding the boring old house you’ve lived in all your life has suddenly been given a glow up by the two Bowens: Jarrod and Laurence Llewellyn.
“If you happen to be anyone (well, almost anyone) who devotes a frankly unjustifiable amount of your time, money and emotional bandwidth to the fortunes of a football club, then you can easily go whole decades, lifetimes even, without ever knowing that this has always been what it’s all about: flying out to a European city, standing around in the sun and then coming back with a trophy.
“Winning something. Actually winning something. Not being promoted, or avoiding relegation, or securing qualification for this, that or the other. But getting to the very end of a competition and being the only team still in it. And then, in an exactly half-filled stadium, long after the other half have gone, raising up the prize.”
Read Tom Peck’s full piece below:
Fights, frights and Declan Rice: How West Ham gave me the night of my life | Tom Peck
It felt at times like it might last forever. Like they might never stop singing, never go home, that the mini Cresswells zigzagging about the six-yard box had somehow slipped the surly bonds of bedtime. What else is there, frankly, that keeps the little kid alive inside the fading grown-up quite like football, asks Tom Peck
West Ham players and staff party into early hours after Europa Conference League win
David Moyes wasn’t the only member of the West Ham group to be dancing away last night. Plenty of players and staff were partying into the early hours of this morning
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