has issued an apology after he was sent off for kicking a ball at a ball boy during ’s defeat to in their semi-final on Thursday.
West Ham were almost immediately given an uphill task to reach the final as Aaron Cresswell was sent off in the 19th minute before Rafael Borre’s goal seven minutes later gave Frankfurt a 3-1 lead on aggregate.
Tempers flared in the second half and Moyes was given his marching orders in the 78th minute after he angrily reacted to a ball boy’s apparent attempt to delay the game.
When asked about his red card after the match, Moyes told BT Sport: ‘I kicked a ball back at a ball boy so I apologise for that.
‘He threw it very softly at me.’
Meanwhile, Declan Rice insists West Ham ‘will be back’ after they missed out on a place in the final, with Frankfurt now taking on Rangers, who knocked out RB Leipzig.
‘Gutted, we are gutted in there,’ said Rice.
‘We have come so far as a group. We are not the biggest of squads, to keep playing week in, week out over 50 games, after last year. I am proud as well.
‘To go down to 10 men and put in that shift. Many teams will go away and lose three or four. To still try to get forward with a man less emphasises everything that West Ham is about. We will fight to the end. So gutted but proud of everyone.
‘A red card is always going to make it a mountain to climb. We had genuine belief that over two legs they weren’t going to beat us. Of course they are a good side but no way are they better than what Sevilla or Lyon were.
‘Maybe we played a team who play similar to us and it caught us out in the end. The first goal Ki**ed the atmosphere in the first game and it is a mountain to climb from there. We have come so far. Nobody expected West Ham to be here. The boys went out on a high even though we lost.
‘It didn’t seem to go for us at all. One cleared off the line, Tomas’ header at the end. We had a few shots. Other than the goal, they didn’t really have another chance. An annoying one to concede that after the sending off as we could still have been in it.
‘The sending off was probably a sending off but some of the other decisions were poor tonight. The ref seemed to make every decision go for them. When you have someone against you, you can’t do much.
‘Lads in there, myself, we have lost big games but we come off with our chest high. We have given it a go. Nobody expected us to get past Sevilla or Lyon. We had a genuine belief in the camp, the fans, even players from other teams, to go out and do it.
‘We will be back. I am young, I want more, the lads want more and the club deserves more. I am sure we will be back.’
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