West Ham news: David Moyes says there's 'not a chance' he'll punish Declan Rice for ref comments

The referee incensed West Ham by sending off Aaron Cresswell in the first half of their semi-final loss, essentially ending their hopes of overturning a one goal deficit.

Moyes himself was also sent to the stands late on what was a frustrating night for the Premier League side.

Rice was captured confronting referee Jesus Gil Manzano by American television after the game, telling him: "Ref, ref, it's so poor, all night, it's so bad.

"How can you be that bad, honestly? You've probably been f****** paid. F****** corruption."

West Ham have said they will await the referees report amend suggestions UEFA may take action against Rice, but Moyes says the Hammers will not be sanctioning their captain over the incident.

"Not a chance - not on my watch anyway," Moyes said.

"If UEFA punish him that's down to them but not on my watch.

"Declan's the captain, Declan's fully behind the team and totally committed - like the manager, like the captain.

"We are all fighting for the same thing, which is to be winners here, and Declan is part of that."

In fact, far from being unhappy with Rice for the incident, he says he believes it was a credit to his players.

"You might say it is a headache; I say it's someone showing how much he cares," he said.

"The whole team was devastated we didn't get through. We found it really difficult circumstances.

"We felt as if we had been treated quite badly overall and that is what happens.

"If you know about football, everybody is emotional so unless you're in the heat of it sometimes people don't understand how it feels.

"We had a group of players who were really connected, trying to win the game and felt it was very difficult under lots of different circumstances."