Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has criticised Manchester City’s “prehistoric” performance in the teams’ 0-0 draw on Wednesday, a result that saw the Premier League side advance to the Champions League semi-finals on aggregate.
A Kevin De Bruyne goal in the quarter-final first leg in Manchester was enough to take Pep Guardiola’s team through to the next round, where they will face Real Madrid, but Cerezo was far from complimentary about City’s display in the second leg in Madrid.
The match was marred by late scenes in which a brawl nearly broke out when Felipe kicked out at Phil Foden. The Atletico defender, who escaped punishment for a heavy challenge on the City midfielder early in the game, was sent off after the second incident, which led to players from both teams nearly coming to blows.
Stefan Savic appeared to headbutt City’s Raheem Sterling, and pictures also seemed to show Jack Grealish then call Savic a “c***”, with the Atletico defender responding by pulling Grealish’s hair. After full time, Savic sprinted towards the tunnel to catch up with Grealish, according to BT Sport, where the duo engaged in another confrontation. Players and staff from both sides poured in once more and several police officers rushed to the scene.
Tunnel footage showed the aftermath, as an enraged Atletico defender Sime Vrsaljko threw an object at City players and had to be restrained.
Focusing on the on-pitch action, Cerezo told Marca: “It was a game which, with a bit of luck, we could have gone to the semi-finals. We didn’t have the fortune to score and take it to extra time.
“We played a good attacking game and Man City yesterday played the old style, to defend and put a wall in front of their goal to not concede.
“The whole world saw it. City were a completely defensive team. In the second half they had one shot on goal. Yesterday it was demonstrated that everyone has their prehistoric [ways].
“In the sporting and human aspect [Atletico coach Diego] Simeone can’t be criticised. He knows how to be in all situations. He’ll continue with us, he’s a winner and he’ll be with us for as long as he wants.”
Atletico could face sanctions from Uefa for the ugly scenes that took place late in the second leg, and the European governing body had already ordered a partial closure of the team’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium as a sanction against the behavior of its fans in the first leg.
“We have to applaud the fans, they were superb yesterday. Uefa will have their motives [for the sanctions], we’ve got our own to worry about,” Cerezo said.
“They can’t put sanctions 24 hours before the start of the match. In the end, sense was applied and they dropped it [for the second leg]. You see lots of games with flares and nothing happens in other stadiums, and here it’s the opposite. It should be more equally applied.”
