Patrick Vieira hits out at aggressive Everton fan after Toffees win, UK police open investigation

Generally so stoic, Patrick Vieira failed to maintain his composure. After the meeting between Everton and Crystal Palace on Thursday May 19, the French Eagles coach kicked a Toffees supporter. A gesture that caused a lot of talk, and which led the British police to open an investigation the next day. “Merseyside Police are investigating an altercation that took place on the Goodison Park pitch after the Everton – Crystal Palace match on Thursday May 19“, she said in a press release, adding that she had received “no formal complaint”. The police services are working with the Everton club to collect “all CCTV footage available“.

It must have been a normal Thursday night. It was not the case. As he had to cross the lawn at Goodison Park to get from his bench to the locker room, Patrick Vieira found himself facing a tide of Everton supporters, descending on the lawn to celebrate the victory of theirs, synonymous with maintaining in the Premier League.

In this context of invasion of the field, a supporter, quicker to chamber the opponent than to celebrate his club, verbally attacked the manager of the London club. In his video, we hear him attacking the French in a flowery “F *** off” vocabulary, with obscene gestures in support. If he seemed impassive at first, Vieira finally cracked.

Patrick Vieira has been filmed in an altercation with an Everton fan on the pitch at Goodison Park during tonight’s pitch invasion. pic.twitter.com/MOliWvsSHJ

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 19, 2022

Nothing serious for the fan who was able to get up, but an act that makes people talk, rightly, across the Channel. The world champion with the Blues in 1998, who refused to comment on his gesture, risks a suspension from the English League and could be suspended for the first games of next season. British police announced they were opening an investigation the day after the incident.