Lyon striker Moussa Dembele controversially mimiced Cristiano Ronaldo’s infamous wink after reacting to a red card for West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell. The Frenchman reacted after he was brought down while through on goal by Cresswell during their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
The wink was reminiscent of Ronaldo’s infamous incident involving himself and Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney at the 2006 World Cup. Ronaldo, then playing for Portugal against England, pleaded to the referee to send off Rooney for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho, before winking to the bench when the referee brandished a red card.
And it was a similar occurrence at the London Stadium on Thursday night after Cresswell was dismissed. Dembele had been played through one-on-one with West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with Cresswell in close pursuit as the ball bounced towards West Ham’s goal.
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The 34-year-old appeared to tug at the French striker’s shoulder once he had touched the ball, causing the 26-year-old to collapse to the ground. And after briefly considering the decision, the referee pulled out the red card, leaving Cresswell distraught.
It was only later when the replays were showed that Dembele’s wink was caught by the broadcast cameras and shown on BT Sport. And West Ham fans, some 16 years after Ronaldo’s dark arts, were rightly furious with the former Fulham and Celtic attacker’s actions.
David Moyes was booked by the German official at the interval after waiting for Zwayer when the teams made their way off the pitch, making clear his unhappiness with the decision to send off Cresswell. Former West Ham midfielder Joe Cole, working as a pundit for BT Sport, slammed the referee for having an “awful game” and criticised the decision.
It was an incident of high drama that came with few chances from either side in a tightly-contested first half. The Scot responded to going down to 10 men by sending on Ben Johnson for Said Benrahma at the break to protect their clean sheet.
However, while West Ham were facing a mountain to climb, Jarrod Bowen put the hosts ahead despite going a man down, chipping Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes with a deflection from Jerome Boateng. On-loan Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele equalised midway through the second half from close range to make it 1-1.
West Ham will face Lyon again in the second leg at the Groupama Arena in a weeks’ time, with a semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt or Barcelona awaiting the winners. However, it appears they will be without Cresswell for the return fixture after his early bath in east London.
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