Declan Rice and West Ham hit back at Lyon for social media trolling around their Europa League match

West Ham have hit back jubilantly at Lyon for their trolling after beating the French side comprehensively in their Europa League quarter-final tie. 

The Premier League side, drawing 1-1 from the first leg at the London Stadium last week, deservedly triumphed 3-0 at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday night to knock Lyon out of the competition.

And Hammers midfielder Declan Rice insisted Lyon’s gloating and taunting ‘came back to bite them’ and was an incentive for the visiting team.

He said: ‘Obviously (Moussa) Dembele winking at the camera in the first leg and then their Twitter admin somehow saying they don’t know how they’re not going to get through. 

‘So those things come back to bite you and we stayed quiet, put in a performance and now West Ham are in the semis. What more do we want?’

West Ham hit back at Lyon for their gloating after beating the French side 3-0 with a fine showing in their Europa League quarter-final tie at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday night 

The Hammers (pictured) put in a superb performance to reach the last four of the competition

Lyon star Moussa Dembele winked after Aaron Cresswell was sent off in the first leg last week

And West Ham’s official Twitter account hilariously referenced the wink in a post on Thursday

In the first leg, Lyon striker Moussa Dembele was brought down when bearing through on goal by a slight Aaron Cresswell touch, leading to the West Ham defender being sent off.

Although the foul probably deserved a yellow card, the hosts were frustrated at the decision for a straight red, feeling the Frenchman made the most of it.

Their anger was increased when Dembele turned and winked at the camera after the dismissal, in a manner similar to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo after his side provoked England’s Wayne Rooney into getting sent off in a crucial World Cup match in 2006. 

After the game last week, Hammers manager Moyes warned Dembele things move quickly in football, saying: ‘This game has got a strange way of coming back to catch you, you just never know.

Hammers boss David Moyes had warned Dembele ‘football comes back to get you’ afterwards

The French striker was left devastated after his side were outclassed in front of their own fans

‘That’s why when you talk about people being down and reacting in certain ways, that can sometimes come back at different times in different ways. Football has a strange way of coming back to get you.’

The Scot’s comments were proved right, with West Ham ending up comfortable victors after goals from Craig Dawson, Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen, while Dembele’s side only managed three shots on target all match. West Ham’s Twitter account then posted a wink emoji overlaid onto a picture of Dembele’s wink.

West Ham were also fired up by a tweet from Lyon’s official account which posted a video clip with the caption: ‘Are you really asking like there’s a chance we don’t go through?’ followed by a raised-eyebrow emoji.

Rice, who referenced that tweet in his post-match interview, then replied to it with a comment saying: ‘This aged well,’ and followed by a cry-laughing and thumbs-up emoji. 

Declan Rice admitted the above tweet was an added incentive for West Ham to win the game

And the talismanic midfielder (pictured), who scored, said ‘those things come back to bite you’

Moyes then hailed his side’s togetherness in overcoming the odds to win brilliantly away from home. 

He added: ‘The players stuck at it, never gave up, got a goal in front before we conceded. I don’t think anyone, when they were putting questions to me earlier, thought we were going to make it tonight.

‘The journey in two years from trying to avoid relegation and now we are talking about getting to the semi-final of a major European tournament. It is fabulous. It is huge what we have done in two years. 

‘We have not won any trophies yet but we are trying to compete and to qualify from European football again, if we can. To be getting to these later stages, we have beaten big clubs that are used to European football. You don’t win anything for tonight but it was a big moment for us.’