Michail Antonio believes West Ham team-mate Kurt Zouma's punishment for abusing his cat should not be more severe than the sanctions handed out to those convicted of racist abuse.
Zouma was filmed kicking and slapping his cat, prompting West Ham to issue the defender a £250,000 fine – which will be donated to charity – while animal charity RSPCA removed the Frenchman's cats.
However, the 27-year-old was not dropped from the Hammers' starting line-up, with manager David Moyes selecting him in the 1-0 win over Watford in their subsequent fixture.
Zouma's presence on the pitch was met with criticism, but Antonio feels those calling for the centre-back to be sacked are going too far in light of the punishments put in place for players that are found guilty of using racist language.
"I've got a question for you," Antonio said to a Sky Sports reporter. "Do you think what he's done is worse than racism?
"I'm not condoning a thing that [Zouma] has done. I don't agree with what he's done at all.
"But, there's people that have been convicted, caught for racism and have played football afterwards. They got punished, they got an eight-game punishment or something like that.
"But people are now calling for people to be sacked, for them to lose their livelihood. I've just got to ask this question to everyone out there: Is what he's done worse than what the people have done that [have been] convicted for racism?"
West Ham's next fixture is a Premier League game against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Sunday as the Hammers compete to finish in the top four.
Xabi Alonso: Bundesliga celebrations will not affect Leverkusen against West Ham
Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso had bad news for David Moyes after insisting there are no lingering hangovers from their historic Bundesliga title celebrations.
Leverkusen clinched the first title in the club’s history when they beat Werder Bremen 5-0 on Sunday.
But their attention is now focused on defending a 2-0 lead in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final at West Ham.
Hammers boss Moyes admitted he hoped the Leverkusen players might have indulged in a few too many steins of German beer.
But Alonso revealed: “A few of them, probably. But not too many. We had control.
“For sure it was a moment to enjoy it. On Sunday we knew we had a chance so we took one day, in case of winning, to enjoy it.
“But from Tuesday our mind has been focused on West Ham. Now it’s the Europa League and we have a great chance to make a great season even better.
“The commitment, the way we’ve trained, give me reasons to believe we will play well tomorrow.
“We have big challenges ahead. West Ham have good players, they have recent experience of beating Freiburg. We need to put in our best performance.
“I don’t have any feeling that our mentality will be any different from the one that has given us this chance to reach the quarter-final.”
Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka managed to achieve what Harry Kane could not do by winning the title in his first season in Germany.
Kane’s switch from Tottenham to Bayern Munich was expected to end in Bundesliga glory but his new side have been left trailing in Leverkusen’s wake.
“Before you transfer to another country you speak with the club and the coach about the plan and the philosophy,” said Xhaka.
“But of course how we are playing is unbelievable, more than people were thinking before the season. I’m proud to be a part of this team.”
Jarrod Bowen likely to be fit for West Ham’s Europa League clash with Leverkusen
Jarrod Bowen looks set to be fit for West Ham’s bid for an unlikely Europa League comeback against new Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers’ 19-goal top scorer missed the 2-0 quarter-final first-leg defeat in Germany, and Sunday’s Premier League loss at home to Fulham, with a hip injury.
But Bowen took part in training at West Ham’s Rush Green HQ on Wednesday morning and hopes are high that he will be available against Leverkusen.
Manager David Moyes said: “It was great to see Jarrod out there.
“We’re not sure yet. I would never risk a player if I thought they were injured but you always want your best players back in, your goalscorers as well, and Jarrod has been that this season.”
The news is a major boost to the Hammers as they attempt to inflict a first defeat of the season on Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen.
But they will be without key Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta through suspension after he was booked in Germany.
“Most people know exactly what Jarrod has done for us over the season and others. It would give us and the crowd a real lift,” Moyes said.
“We’ve lost Lucas through suspension, and had Jarrod out through injury. We have to find ways of making magic happen.”
Left-back Emerson Palmieiri is also suspended while centre-half Konstantinos Mavropanos is a doubt.
Leverkusen secured a first league title in their history when they beat Werder Bremen 5-0 on Sunday, and Moyes hopes the celebrations went on long into the night – and maybe spilled into the start of the week.
“Rightly so, why would you not celebrate?” he said. “To be the champions, you should celebrate, you should enjoy it because the moments go very quickly.
“I hope they’ve been downing those big giant glasses of beer they get in Germany!”
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who turns 39 on Thursday, hopes West Ham can lean on their experience of making unlikely comebacks.
Fabianski was in the Hammers team who were 3-0 down at Tottenham with 10 minutes to go in 2020, and hit back to draw 3-3.
“I think the confidence that we can take is from the experiences in recent years, games where we have been down and come back,” the former Poland international said.
“The Spurs game is one of the best examples, being 3-0 down and to score three in 10-15 minutes.
“We’ve experienced some great moments as a team in recent history and that will help us prepare mentally for (Thursday’s) game.”
Jarrod Bowen likely to be fit for West Ham’s clash with Bayer Leverkusen
Jarrod Bowen looks set to be fit for West Ham’s bid for an unlikely Europa League comeback against new Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers’ 19-goal top scorer missed the 2-0 quarter-final first-leg defeat in Germany and Sunday’s Premier League loss at home to Fulham with a hip injury.
Bowen took part in training at West Ham’s Rush Green HQ on Wednesday morning and hopes are high that he will be available against a Leverkusen side unbeaten all season.
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski said: “I was pleased and we were all pleased to see Jarrod training with us.
“Jarrod is obviously a very important player for us, hopefully he will be able to help us as well.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
