Play stopped in Europa Conference League final as Cristiano Biraghi struck by missile thrown from crowd
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Updated 07/06/2023 at 20:18 GMT
Fiorentina defender Cristiano Biraghi suffered a cut to the back of the head on Wednesday evening at the Europa Conference League final in the Czech Republic. The Italian appeared to be struck by a missile after a flurry of objects were thrown by the area at the Eden Arena which housed West Ham supporters. Play between West Ham and Fiorentina was paused as a result.
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Cristiano Biraghi was injured by an object thrown from the West Ham supporter section in the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina.
The 30-year-old full-back was preparing to take a corner after 33 minutes of play, with the score 0-0 at the Eden Arena in the Czech Republic.
It then appeared that plastic cups were thrown in the direction of the player as he approached the ball, but he appeared to flinch when something smaller was aimed in his direction.
He then sarcastically applauded the fans, before it became clear that he was injured by the missile.
Biraghi was seen with a cut to the back of his head, with a large amount of blood streaming from the back of his head, which required medal attention and a bandage so he could return to action.
Italian football writer James Horncastle, analysing the match for BT Sport, said the culprit must be banned.
"You'd like to think that - we have VAR to tell us about mistakes in referee decisions - that there are enough cameras in the stadium now find whoever did that and ban them."
Former West Ham player Joe Cole described it as "moronic behaviour".
"We've praised the West Ham fans and rightly so, they've been very well behaved. It needs to be sorted out and taken out of the game," he continued.
The match was halted by the officials as a result of the incident, with both Fiorentina and West Ham looking for a rare moment of European success.
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