Michail Antonio Suggests Bias On Part Of Officials After West Ham Exit Europa League
Michail Antonio feels West Ham United were hard done-by by officials as they bowed out of Europe to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League on Thursday.
The Hammers drew 1-1 on home turf with the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions to go out 3-1 on aggregate at the quarterfinal stage.
It was Antonio who gave West Ham a first half lead with a header but David Moyes' side could not level the tie until substitute Jeremie Frimpong level the scores on the night with a deflected effort late on.
Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez dished out eleven yellow cards on the night and Antonio has suggested bias with his performance as well as that of his assistant referees.
“It doesn’t feel like you’re playing against 11 men, it feels like you’re playing against 13 or 14 including the two linos,” Antonio told TNT Sports.
“You just have to keep pushing and try and make the decisions go your way. And they just weren’t. We had to keep playing our way and keep being professional.”
“We’re very proud of ourselves, to achieve what we’ve achieved over the last few years is incredible,” added Antonio, who helped West Ham win the Europa Conference League last season.
“Three back-to-back years in European quarter-finals I would never have thought that. We were a yo-yo team, fighting relegation, then into Europe.”
