Manchester City’s Jack Grealish has denied being disrespectful towards Fluminense during Friday’s Club World Cup final victory.
Tempers briefly flared after the final whistle as City captain Kyle Walker and Fluminense defender Felipe Melo grappled in a heated argument. Melo subsequently blamed Grealish for stoking tensions, claiming the City winger had shouted “olé”.
Melo appeared to feel the England star was mocking Fluminense by using the term during the Club World Cup final, and was widely reported as saying: “I’ve already seen on social media idiots saying that I started a mess ... Grealish was disrespectful towards the Fluminense institution and I will never let that happen.
“He was shouting olé at the end of the game. This is for the fans, the fans can shout olé. The athlete on the field cannot be disrespectful towards the institution. So, for the idiots who call themselves journalists and have already said that I started trouble, I didn’t start any confusion, on the contrary, I went to defend [Matheus] Martinelli, who was being cornered by this athlete. And I would do it again. I am a warrior.”
Grealish insisted that was not true, tweeting: “Not once did I say ole.”
The situation quickly calmed down before City lifted their fifth trophy of the year following a comprehensive 4-0 win over the Brazilian side in Saudi Arabia.
Julian Alvarez scored twice, with Phil Foden also netting in the second half after a Nino own goal had put City two up.
