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It's fair to say that German match official Felix Zwayer had a mystifyingly poor night as West Ham drew 1-1 with Lyon at the London Olympic Stadium in the first leg of the Europa League quarter final.

Hammers boss David Moyes was so incensed by the referee's performance that he was booked at half time for his protestations over the red card issued to Aaron Cresswell and refused to comment during his post match press conference, in fear of receiving further sanctions from UEFA.




So with the boss unable to speak out for fear of a fine, or maybe worse, we have highlighted five key moments during last night's game in which Zwayer's decisions went against West Ham.


1. Aaron Cresswell's red card

A minimum of two minutes of added-on time had been indicated by the fourth official at the end of the first half yet the game was already into the third (of five-and-a-half eventually played) when Cresswell brushed the upper arm of Lyon's Moussa Dembele, leading to Zwayer producing a red card much to the left-back's dismay.




Replays clearly showed that contact was minimal, at best, and that Dembele flung himself to the ground nearly a second after contact had been made, indicating that he cheated - yet the referee still interpreted the challenge as a foul and one that deserved the maximum punishment.


2. Stopping play, unnecessarily

Twice, with West Ham in possession in the final third of the pitch Zwayer bizarrely deemed it necessary to stop play as Lyon players feigned injury, despite officials having been instructed to only halt proceedings for head injuries or other serious injuries.

Later in the game he also produced the whistle with West Ham in a good position midway through the second half, due to a pitch invader entering the field of play.


3. No corner to West Ham

Said Benrahma was furious midway through the first half when he played the ball off an opponent for what should've been a West Ham corner, yet much to the Algerian's consternation Zwayer decided instead to award a goal kick to the French side. It should be noted that the referee's assistant also failed to flag for a corner.


4. Go on, have another go

The 60,000-capacity crowd was incensed when a Lyon player was allowed to retake a thrown-in deep into his own territory after the ball appeared to slip from his grasp on the first occasion. This was probably the least obvious of the errors highlighted here (if it was indeed an error at all), yet added to the other incidents it illustrates how sympathetic Zwayer was to Lyon.


5. Bowen booking

The game was in the last of eight minutes added on at the end of the second half when Jarrod Bowen was booked for what the referee apparently determined to be a foul by the touchline on an opponent, much to the surprise fo the forward who, TV replays confirmed, has not touched the player.




Finally, one other point of note: Usually, at the end of a match it is customary for both linesman to join the referee in the centre circle before leaving the field of play. Yet upon the final whistle last night, one of the two referee's assistants was spotted heading straight down the tunnel instead.

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