West Ham fans clashed with riot police in Prague after setting off flares as they celebrated winning the Europa Conference League on Wednesday night.
Fans poured into the streets of the Czech capital following the Hammers’ victory over Fiorentina, with many already in the city centre after thousands of supporters travelled from the UK without tickets.
But a scuffle broke out after police officers tried to confiscate a lit flare as fans gathered in the Old Town area of the city.
Riot police stormed a group after they lit a second flare, with fans responding by pelting the officers with bottles and missiles.
Earlier in the day Czech police said they had detained at least 16 Italian fans after they attacked West Ham supporters outside a bar, with videos shared on social media showing chairs and fireworks being thrown.
Celebrations were initially good-natured after the match, with revellers hugging and kissing each other and dancing on tables in bars.
Chants of “2-1 to the cockney boys” and “Irons” also broke out as the Londoners welcomed the club’s first trophy in more than 40 years.
The final took place at the Fortuna Arena, which has a capacity of around 19,300, with West Ham receiving an official ticket allocation of 5,000, although many more travelled from the UK to be in the city during the game.
Supporters watched in bars around the city, including a group who went wild at McCarthy’s Pub in the Old Town area from the moment Jarrod Bowen gave the team the lead in the final minute of the second half.
West Ham fan Aaron, 18, said it felt “unreal” to win.
“(I’ve) never felt like it in my life,” he said.
He said his plan for the rest of the night was to “stumble back to the hotel”.
“How we get there I don’t care,” he added.
It came hours after West Ham fans were attacked by Italian supporters in the city centre, prompting police to detain 16 people.
Czech police said three people were injured during the incident, with one police officer being attacked.
One witness said fans of the Italian side were armed with “chains and belt buckles”.
There was also controversy during the match as Cristiano Biraghi of Fiorentina was seen bleeding from the back of the head after he appeared to have been hit by an object thrown from the West Ham stand.
Shortly before the end of the match, the English club put out a statement condemning the behaviour of a “small number of individuals”, adding: “These actions have no place in football, and do not in any way represent the values of our football club and the overwhelming majority of our supporters, who have behaved impeccably in Prague this week and throughout our last two seasons in European competition.”
The club said it would work with police to review the incident and take action against offenders, including implementing lifetime bans.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
Al-Hilal 3-1 Al-Ettifaq: Champions return to the summit with dominant win
Al-Hilal surged back to the Saudi Pro League summit with a convincing 3-1 triumph over 10-man Al-Ettifaq on Friday.
The defending champions are now one point clear of Al-Ittihad in the standings, with their latest victory piling more misery on Al-Ettifaq boss, Steven Gerrard.
Al-Hilal struggled in the early exchanges at the Kingdom Arena, registering their first effort on Marek Rodak's goal in the 38th minute courtesy of Marcos Leonardo.
But the hosts would take the lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, with Mitrovic on hand to steer Renan Lodi's delivery into the net from close range.
Al-Hilal then doubled their advantage nine minutes from time when Malcolm collected the ball from Abdullah Al Hamddan, before rounding Rodak and finishing into an empty net.
However, hopes of a comeback from the visitors were revived in second-half stoppage time when Joao Cancelo gave away a penalty after a handball inside the box.
Vitinho stepped up and fired home the spot-kick, but Al-Hilal confirmed the win two minutes later through Mohammed Al Qahtani, with visiting forward Abdullah Radif shown a late red card for violent conduct.
Data Debrief: Happy Friday!
Al-Hilal continued their quest for a 20th Saudi Pro League crown with a dominant display against Al-Ettifaq, extending their unbeaten run against their opponents in the process.
They have now not lost their last 13 league encounters against Al-Ettifaq (W12 D1), surpassing their longest unbeaten streak against them in the competition (12 matches between 2008 and 2013 - W8 D4).
Al-Hilal have now lost only three matches when hosting teams on a Friday in the Pro League out of 55 matches (W46 D6 L3).
Lodi also took his goal contribution tally to eight this season in all competitions (three goals, five assists). During his European career with three different clubs, he only notched more goal involvements (nine) in the 2021-22 campaign with Atletico Madrid.
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