An Everton fan holding a toddler on his lap lashed out at a rival goalkeeper as he watched his side lose 2-1 in the Europa League last night.
His face contorted with rage, the supporter tried to attack Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes after Everton captain Ashley Williams had pushed the player into the advertising hoardings.
An out-of-control Williams was lucky to escape a red card and was involved in the ensuing brawl among the players in front of a packed Everton crowd.
An Everton fan (outstretched arm, left) who was holding a child got himself involved in a mass mid-match brawl on Thursday
The irate supporter slapped Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes on his head in the Europa League game at Goodison Park
A foul by Everton centre back and captain Ashley Williams (No 5) on French goalkeeper Lopes sparked the ugly scenes
The moment of controversy in the second half came after Williams shoved Lyon’s keeper, sending him into the hoardings
Williams was lucky not to see red for his part in a brawl following an argument with Lopes that also saw fans involved
Everton fans in the Everton home end also got involved and the incident saw Williams being pulled away by an Everton official
Williams was very fortunate to escape with just a yellow card from referee Bas Nijhuis. UEFA are sure to examine the incident and Everton will be bracing themselves for sanctions.
It is unclear whether the police got involved following the ugly scenes.
Williams sought to play down the incident after the game. ‘It’s what happens, it’s football. It is what it is,’ he told BT Sport 2.
‘It’s high emotions. We want to win the game, they want to win the game and stuff happens. That was just one of those times.’
Lopes later retorted: ‘I don’t think it’s part of the English atmosphere to hit an away player but it was like that.’
Lyon forward Bertrand Traore was shown a yellow card after confronting the fan who struck his team-mate.
Traore told L’Equipe: ‘In these heated moments, like the fight, we have to help each other, stay as a team. That’s what I tried to do. There’s a supporter who puts a blow to Anthony Lopes. It’s not normal. I defended him.’
The incident occurred midway through the second half when the score was 1-0 to the visitors.
Williams later equalised for Everton, only for Traore to restore the Lyon lead which had earlier been established by Nabil Fekir.
But furious Toffees captain Williams was not done there. He fronted up to Lyon midfielder Lucas Tousart (second left)
What followed saw Williams at the centre of an ugly ruck behind the goal involving most of the players on the pitch
Thirty-three-year-old Williams attacked Tousart by wildly swinging his arms towards the 6ft 1in France Under 21 midfielder
The Lyon players swarmed in to defend their keeper as the red mist descended on Williams behind the goal
Williams was lucky to stay on the pitch and he took advantage by scoring to make it 1-1 after 69 minutes of play at Goodison
Everton have now taken just one point from their first three group games in the Europa League this season.
The defeat — Everton’s sixth in their last 10 games in all competitions — piled more pressure on manager Ronald Koeman, who criticised the standard of officiating.
He said: ‘There was a certain irritation in that moment by Ashley because he’s that player who likes to win and who cannot deal with a lot of disappointments.
‘But I think the mistake was also by the referee because they make a lot of theatre and he did nothing.
‘Fekir was I think 10 times on the floor diving [and] not even a yellow card. And that grows our irritation and even extra time… It’s five minutes. We had six substitutes and that’s three minutes.
‘We had the fight and that was maybe two minutes and they had I think eight times injuries in the game and it’s five minutes… come on, please.’
Everton’s parity was short-lived though as ex-Chelsea starlet Bertrand Traore struck six minutes later to give Lyon the victory
After the match, Williams played down his fight, saying: ‘It’s football and stuff happens. It was one of them things I suppose’
Under-pressure Everton boss Ronald Koeman hit out at the referee and his assistants in his post-match interview on BT Sport
Lyon used their English language Twitter account to express their disapproval at Williams, asking: ‘Is this football?’
Speaking on BT Sport, pundit Jermaine Jenas suggested that Williams’ meltdown was perhaps the result of the defender struggling to deal with what has been a hard period in his career.
Jenas said: ‘The last couple of weeks will probably go down as the toughest weeks of his career.
‘Getting knocked out (of the World Cup) by Wales in the way that they did, a lot of that fell on his shoulders in terms of the way they went out.
‘(He is) captain tonight and the pressure that Everton are going through, it seemed to me like that all came together and he lost control in one specific moment.’
Lyon expressed their disapproval at Williams via their English language Twitter account, posting a photo of the Welshman throwing a punch at Tousart along with the caption: ‘Is this football?’
Mason Holgate clumsily felled Fernando Marcal in the Everton box to concede the spot kick after just five minutes
Nabil Fekir was tasked with the spot kick and beat Jordan Pickford with a low effort into the bottom right-hand corner
Williams scored the equaliser that looked to have got Everton back into the game, heading home Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick
But Lyon striker Bertrand Traore sunk Everton with a clever sucker-punch goal 15 minutes from time that stunned Goodison