Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone stormed out of his press conference a reporter asked him if he could “give Real Madrid some advice” on how to beat Manchester City.
The Argentine coach was still hot under the collar from his side’s Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s side. His side were only just edged out by the Premier League title holders in an affair which was dominated by extraordinary fracases both on and off the pitch.
Simeone and his players were left furious after Felipe was given a second yellow card for scything down Phil Foden when he was bursting down the wing. And his mood was not improved by a reporter, somewhat boldly, asking him if he would offer advice to their fierce rivals Real Madrid.
"Is it demanding or cheeky to ask you if you could give Real Madrid some advice on how to defeat City,” the reporter brashly asked with an ever so slight tinge of nervousness in his voice. Very unsurprisingly, Simeone embraced the question with no sense of humour or consideration as he very quickly departed his desk and headed for the exit.
"No, I would never dare to do that,” Simeone griped while marching out of the press conference. As City neighbours, Atletico and Real Madrid have a ferocious rivalry between the two sides.
The Citizens will take on Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League, after the 13-time European Champions only just saw of Chelsea in a thrilling semi-final tie. However, focus is still being gravitated towards the post-match incidents of the Wanda Metropolitano.
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During the enormous coming together between the two sides after Felipe’s challenge on Foden, former City defender Stefan Savic was seen grabbing and yanking the hair of Jack Grealish.
While full-time was eventually blown soon after, the volatility between the two sides did not stop after the referee whistle. Both sides came together in the player’s tunnel in an extraordinary exchange which saw objects thrown and players being held back by their coaches.
However, Simeone claimed he did not see any of the heated exchanges in the tunnel as he was on the pitch when it happened. "I never applauded the rival bench or our rivals," he added moments before he made a quicker than expected exit from the press conference.
"I was applauding our fans in one side of the stadium and the other side of the stadium. I was applauding everyone who was behind us for the whole of the 90 minutes and I wanted to give them my thanks.
"Our players were giving the people that energy and the people were giving it back, but of course we couldn’t give them what we all wanted which was going through."
Simeone will now have to project his full focus and attention to Atletico Madrid’s hopes of securing Champions League football. Their hopes of a top four finish are currently on thin ice, as they only hold a slender one point advantage over fourth placed Real Betis.
