West Ham players dived into the crowd to protect their friend and families in a VIP area at full time after they were ambushed by Dutch Ultras.

Former Hammer Joe Cole told BT Sport: “AZ Alkmaar fans attacked West Ham fans where the families, friends and colleagues were sitting. Players tried to break it up. We’ve got to have to look at UEFA and AZ for things like that. AZ fans turned up with balaclavas throwing punches.”

He added: “We had the same incidents at Frankfurt last year, and it only gets a slap on the wrist. Football’s a family, we should be inclusive for everybody. The players were rightfully concerned for family, friends, kids. The men that do this type of thing are pathetic.”

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Moyes said: “I can only tell you that players were involved because that was the family area. What I don’t want to do in any way is blight our night, it wasn’t West Ham supporters looking for trouble. Hopefully, they look into it.”

Asked if his family were in the area the home supporters attacked, he added: “Yes, but you hope they will to get themselves away from it. I was on the pitch at the end and security wanted to take me inside but I wanted to make sure the players didn’t get too involved.

“We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle but a lot of the players were getting angry because they couldn’t see if their families were OK. We will have to wait and ask the officials what really happened.”

AZ Alkmaar boss Pascal Jensen strongly condemned his own fans and said he was ashamed of the minority that attempted to ruin the occasion. “I feel a bit ashamed that those scenes happened in our stadium. It shouldn’t be happening – the game didn’t go as we hoped, but you have to stay in control of your emotions.”