Everton look sure to face a UEFA investigation into ugly scenes which marred the 2-1 defeat against Lyon and left their hopes of reaching the Europa League knockout stages hanging by a thread.
Ashley Williams sparked the melee by pushing visiting goalkeeper Anthony Lopes over the byline when he was jumping to gather the ball.
The fight spilled on to the hoardings behind the French side’s goal at the Howard Kendall Gwladys Street End, with players angrily pushing, shoving and grappling with each other.
At one point, it looked as though some fans were trying to get involved, including one holding a young child.
Williams, who somehow escaped with a booking for his part in the trouble, grappled with Lucas Tousart and appeared to raise his hands.
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The Everton skipper, who went on to score an equaliser in Everton’s 2-1 loss to Lyon, claimed it was simply “high emotions” given the pressurised atmosphere.
But Koeman reckons his players grew frustrated with the referee during the game: “I don’t know what exactly happened. There was a lot of players involved. OK it started with Ashley and the goalkeeper.
“But the irritation and frustration grew for my players after the referee did not do anything about theatre of the Lyon players.
“Nabil Fakir for one went down 10 times diving there was a physio on the pitch.
“I understand my players – it comes out of frustration.
“You need to handle it. I don’t know what happened but I can understand it.”
Club captain Williams, who scored Everton’s equaliser after Fakir had bagged the opener – only for Bertrand Traore to net the winner for Lyon – said: “It’s football.
“It is what it is. We want to win and so do they. These things happen.
“We wanted to show fight for ourselves, the club and fans.”