Declan Rice accused referee Jesus Gil Manzano of “corruption” after West Ham’s Europa League semi-final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Footage has emerged of a furious Rice confronting the official in the tunnel at Deutsche Bank Park on Thursday evening, where the Hammers were beaten 1-0 to exit the competition 3-1 on aggregate.
The Premier League side had Aaron Cresswell sent off early on for an elbow that was initially punished with a yellow card before Manzano changed his mind after reviewing the incident on the VAR monitor.
What did Rice say to the referee?
It is unclear whether the clip, released by FoxSportsMX, is taken at full time or half time, but Rice is clearly angry at some of Manzano’s decision-making.
“Ref, it’s so poor,” Rice shouted. “All night, it’s so bad. How can you be that bad? Honestly, you’ve probably been f***ing paid. F***ing corruption.”
Speaking to BT Sport shortly after the game, a more composed Rice said: “The sending off was probably a sending off looking back at it but some of the other decisions were poor tonight.
“Nothing seemed to go for us. The ref seemed to make every decision go for them. In the end, when you've got someone who is against you, you can't really do much.”
On a frustrating evening all round for West Ham, boss David Moyes could face a UEFA charge after he volleyed ball in anger and nearly hit a ball boy. Moyes was sent off for the incident before apologising after the game.