Man Utd and West Ham pay emotional tribute to Queen with minute’s silence and black armbands ahead of European games

FOOTBALL honored the Queen with a minute’s silence and black armbands in memory of Her Majesty on Thursday night.

Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II after the royal family gathered at Balmoral.

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Later in the evening, Manchester United lost 1-0 to Real Sociedad at Old Trafford and West Ham defeated FCSB 3-1 at the London Stadium.

And in both games, due tribute was paid to The Queen after it was confirmed the games would go ahead.

A statement from Man Utd read: “Upon instructions from the FA and UEFA, tonight’s UEFA Europa League game against Real Sociedad will take place at Old Trafford as scheduled.

“A minute’s silence will be observed before kick-off to allow the teams, match officials and everyone present to pay their respects to Her Majesty The Queen.

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“Both teams will wear black armbands and the Old Trafford flags will be flown at half-staff as a sign of our utmost respect.”

After the death of the Queen, Old Trafford flew its flags at half-mast as fans arrived on the ground.

And fans who were already in the stadium followed the coverage on screens in the hall.

When the teams came out before the game, the black armbands were visible on both groups of players.

The death of the Queen comes as…

And all the billboards around the compound had been blacked out.

At the London stadium, West Ham took the same measures for their game.

And the minute’s silence in both stadiums was observed perfectly before kick-off.

Then at half-time BT Sport decided against showing ads as they simply aired a black screen saying ‘BT Sport’ until coverage returned.

A minute’s silence was observed early in the evening before the second half of Arsenal’s game against FC Zurich in Switzerland.

This happened just minutes after her tragic death was announced.