West Ham boss David Moyes issues warning to winking Lyon forward Moussa Dembele

Dembele was caught winking after Hammers left-back Aaron Cresswell was sent off in the Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday

Jonathan Veal
Friday 08 April 2022 22:30 BST
Comments
West Ham manager David Moyes (Mike Egerton/PA)
West Ham manager David Moyes (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

West Ham boss David Moyes has told Lyon forward Moussa Dembele what goes around comes around.

Dembele was caught winking after he was brought down by Aaron Cresswell in the Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.

The left-back was sent off after the referee deemed him to be denying a goalscoring opportunity and the Frenchman gave a wink, just as Cristiano Ronaldo did against England at the 2006 World Cup following Wayne Rooney’s dismissal.

Moyes reminded Dembele that fortunes can quickly change in football and pointed to Cresswell as evidence as his red card came just days after scoring a brilliant free-kick against Everton at the weekend.

“Sometimes you feel as if you can be hard done by and you just have to put it aside and get on with it,” the Scot said.

“Aaron Cresswell scored a brilliant free-kick the other day (against Everton), lots of talk about him.

“This game has got a strange way of coming back to catch you, you just never know.

“That’s why when you talk about people being down and reacting in certain ways, that can sometimes come back at different times in different ways.

“Football has a strange way of coming back to get you.

“You can see the action, you can see what happened. Unfortunately it happened and it didn’t help us.”

Cresswell will still be able to play as the Hammers return to domestic action with a trip across London to Brentford on Saturday.

They will come up against Christian Eriksen, whose return from his cardiac arrest last summer is going from strength to strength.

Moyes believes his story is sending a positive message.

“I think it is a brilliant story. I don’t think anyone ever doubted Christian Eriksen as a player,” he said.

“Unbelievable player, it looks as if he’s a really good lad. I think it is just a wee bit more about hope.

“Everyone in life should feel that when things are down don’t let it keep you down, keep fighting, it is a great message to everybody.

“That is why he gets applauded and that’s why people cheer because they see something that everybody knows was very close, now to being back playing and playing very well.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in