Diego Simeone has hit back at criticism of Atletico Madrid's behaviour versus Manchester City in their Champions League quarter-final second leg.
With City defending their 1-0 lead from the first leg, Atletico were pushing for an equaliser at the end of the second leg when Felipe kicked out at Phil Foden, who had jumped over his tackle. Fellow centre-back Stefan Savic steamed in to shout at Foden, sparking a melee between both sides that saw Savic booked and Felipe then receiving a second yellow card for his kick.
After the game, footage showed both sets of players and staff pushing and shoving in the tunnel, with reports of police getting involved to restore order. Simeone insisted he did not see what happened, but defended his side's conduct in the preceding melee.
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"I didn't see it," the Atleti boss said of the tunnel incident. "I stayed on the pitch applauding the fans. By the time I went upstairs I saw no one.
"Football has a lot of facets, it's not my place to say if our rivals were playing well or not, or what kind of football they played. That is what you do. We have to think of what we did.
"Playing against probably the best team in the world and realising we could compete really well against them it doesn't really leave me happy at all. The only thing that makes me happy is winning so I feel unhappy."
When asked if his players crossed a line, Simeone asked for an example, and defended them when it was put to him that Felipe and Savic's conduct was too much.
He replied: "I think that justice should be implemented by other people. It's the referee who should give justice. There was a penalty on [Angel] Correa but they didn't even check it on video, so..."
Simeone did praise City, adding: "We want to win, however possible. So I’m gutted that we are out. But we’ve been beaten by an extraordinary rival.
"They normally score three or four and we’ve pushed them, conceded very few chances and we’ve blocked their brilliant associative play. We lacked the goal we needed, so we have to congratulate them for going through.
"I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do. Our fans were extraordinary, pushing the team on and then responding, in kind, by raising the noise still further once the team were close to winning. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that the fans will be proud of how we compete, that’s the key.
"However you do it, you compete. The only thing to emphasise is that we didn’t win – and that’s all that truly counts."
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