Everton star Ashley Williams fights Lyon players with FANS also getting involved in outrageous on-field brawl

Posted Friday, October 20, 2017 by Thesun.co.uk

ASHLEY WILLIAMS was at the centre of an ugly brawl between Everton and Lyon players which even saw some Toffees fans try to slap their French opponents.

The Welsh defender"s blood boiled over after another failed chance as he rashly barged the Lyon goalkeeper to the floor.

Everton star Ashley Williams fights Lyon players with FANS also getting involved in outrageous on-field brawl
Ashley Williams started a mass brawl between Everton and Lyon players

The French side reacted angrily and soon surrounded the Everton skipper, who started shoving back. The brawl quickly gathered more players and soon they all tumbled into the hoardings.

But in disgraceful scenes, some of the Toffees fans started to get involved as well.

number were seen grabbing the Lyon players and attempting to slap those closest - one was even holding a young CHILD at the time.

This infuriated the visitors, who remonstrated as stewards sought to intervene.

Everton star Ashley Williams fights Lyon players with FANS also getting involved in outrageous on-field brawl
Some fans were seen attempting trying to slap the Lyon players

Williams continued to rage as Everton coaches tried to calm him down.

And the defender ended up being shown just a yellow for his role in the ruckus.

But the decision came back to haunt Lyon, with Williams ironically helping himself to an equaliser just minutes later - although Lyon eventually went on to win 2-1.

The Toffees skipper blamed emotions after the game. He said: "It"s football. It is what it is.

"It"s just what happens with huge emotions. "e wanted to win and they wanted to win, it"s one of them times I suppose.

"You always put put pressure on yourself as it"s bigger than anything. We want to show fight for the club and fans.

"We are disappointed to get no points, we had a good attitude, we had more chances than them, it"s really disappointing to get to 1-1 and concede quickly.

"It"s a big one against Arsenal - they are all big, especially against a top team at home, and we need to win and have a good performance."

Ronald Koeman, who is under huge pressure after a dreadful start to the season, added: "That was an irritation in that moment by Ashley, he is that kind of player who cannot deal with disappointments but the mistake was the ref - they made a lot of theatre and he did nothing.

"[Nabil] Fekir was 10 times on the floor diving and not even a yellow card and that grew our irritation.

"Even the extra time was only five minutes - we had six substitutes, that"s three minutes, and we had the fight which was two minutes and they had eight injuries, and its five minutes? Come on."

But BT Sport pundits Jermaine Jenas and Martin Keown were not so kind on Williams, saying the Welsh defender had "lost his head".

"The redness has kicked in," said Jenas, "he has lots all control.

"He has lost his head. He was very fortunate to get away [without] a red card there. He is captain of the team. He has not lead by example."

Keown added: "It was quite prolonged and was a serious incident. I thought maybe a red card would come out.

"This is serious. Ashley Williams has incited trouble, problems with the fans, the stewards have got involved. The ref should be sending people off for that.

"There is a professional line, which you don't go below as a footballer, and it spilled over. That incident has really clouded the evening."