Everton manager Ronald Koeman says the referee was to blame for the on-field brawl against Lyon.
Players from both sides were embroiled in a mass melee after Ashley Williams pushed Anthony Lopes during during the Blues’ 2-1 defeat in their Europa League game on Thursday.
Indeed, it even spilled in to the watching Gwladys Street as one Everton fan was pictured aiming an arm towards a Lyon player.
Both Williams and Bertrand Traore were booked for their involvement in the incident but Koeman believes it could have been avoided had the referee been better in his own performance.
“I don’t know what happened because there were a lot of players involved,” he said.
“Okay it starts with Ashley on the goalkeeper and the defender of Lyon but I think the irritation had grown for our players in the game.
“In my opinion that was a fault of the referee. Even though he was Dutch, he didn’t do anything against Tete or any of the Lyon players.
“Fekir went down ten times in the first half, diving, and he accepted that. We had five minutes extra time despite there being six substitutes, which is three minutes alone.
“And then the fight, I don’t know how long it took, maybe two minutes?
“Ten times diving, a physio on the pitch and I understand my players because that comes out of frustration.
“Of course you need to handle, I don’t know exactly what happened but I can understand it. Everything was against.”