It was very much sour grapes time for Fiorentina officials after they were beaten fair and square by a last minute Hammers goal.
It was inevitable of course that the Irons fans who threw containers onto the pitch would be the first subject on their lips as the Italian club’s president Rocco Commisso branded us as “animals.”
Nobody should attempt to excuse the behaviour of the Hammers contingent responsible with striker Luca Jovic coming off at half-time with a broken nose, and Cristiano Biraghi left with a bloodied face after being hit by an object thrown from the crowd.
After all it was more than noticeable that the play acting early on among his players as they attempted to gain advantages from play acting and small tactical fouls was bad enough in itself.
But defeats are hard to take as Commisso demonstrated when failing to pay the Hammers a single compliment on their fine victory.
Instead he whinged: “I expected to win, but it wasn’t like that. But there have been episodes on the pitch where the referee had to make the difference.
“I spoke to the president of the Premier League, those of West Ham are animals in the way they treated ours. It’s not right. This match could be won 3-0. I’m sorry for the fans, they deserved more.”
Separately, the Serie A club “strongly condemned” what happened to Biraghi.
“This unacceptable behaviour obviously affected the performance of the footballer and his team-mates, who had their attention drawn away from footballing matters by the threats to their own safety,” Fiorentina said.
It added it was “certain” European football’s governing body Uefa would “duly punish those responsible for this act, delivering an appropriate response and setting an example so that such situations never occur again”.