Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso hints that David Moyes calling his bench a ‘disgrace’ last week sparked bust-up with West Ham dug-out in return leg that saw two assistant coaches sent off

Xabi Alonso hinted the bust-up between his Bayer Leverkusen coaching team and West Ham’s dug-out stemmed from David Moyes calling his bench a ‘disgrace’ after the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

The Hammers were knocked out after Leverkusen came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium, with their 2-0 victory at the BayArena giving them a 3-1 win on aggregate.

Tensions flared in the first leg and spilled over into Thursday night’s game, with West Ham’s assistant coach Billy McKinlay and Leverkusen’s Sebastian Parrilla sent off just before half-time.

Moyes and Alonso were not involved in the confrontation, but the Leverkusen boss believes the cause goes back to comments his opposite number made in the aftermath of last week’s game.

Moyes was unhappy at the way Leverkusen’s bench reacted to a foul from Lucas Paqueta which resulted in a yellow card and suspension for the second leg. The Hammers manager said Leverkusen’s bench were a ‘disgrace’ for the way they had rushed out of their bench and said he believed their actions swayed the referee’s decision.

Xabi Alonso hinted that David Moyes calling his team a ‘disgrace’ last week may have sparked the bust-up

Asked whether last week’s incident had caused the tension in the second leg, Alonso said bluntly: ‘I would not say no.’

Moyes would not be drawn too much on the incident but did aim a dig at Alonso’s Spanish coaching team.

‘I watch a lot of Spanish football and I’ve worked in Spain so I’ve got an idea of what it’s like,’ Moyes said.

‘But if that’s the way it is, you wouldn’t want to be watching a lot of Spanish games.’

West Ham were minutes away from ending Leverkusen’s 43-game unbeaten run before Jeremie Frimpong’s late goal cancelled out Michail Antonio’s opener, which came in the 13th minute.

Moyes was full of praise for his players for their efforts and insisted he is determined to try and deliver European football for a fourth successive season.

West Ham are currently eighth in the Premier League but still have a chance of making the Europa League or Conference League.

Moyes hailed his team’s ‘brilliant’ performance, despite West Ham failing to reach the Europa League semi-finals

‘It was a brilliant team performance,’ Moyes said. ‘In the two games, we’ve played a really good team. I thought tonight we had the chance to go two or three-nil up at one point.

‘We missed those opportunities which were really important. Overall, I couldn’t fault the players at all. I thought they were fantastic, their attitude, their effort. If I was going to go out of Europe I wanted to go out playing like that. It was a terrific performance against a good side.

‘Three years in Europe has been fabulous. Three quarter-finals, we’ve won two. Tonight we came narrowly close to doing it.

‘I think these supporters here have been treated to big nights, whether it be Alkmaar, Seville, Frankfurt, tonight it was Leverkusen, who are a Champions League teams and play that way and are gonna be that next year. I think we’ve had three fabulous years and hoping that there is still a chance we can make it four.’