Pep Guardiola refused to comment on the mayhem that marred the end of their red-blooded clash with Atletico Madrid. The Manchester City boss preferred to praise his players for a fantastic defensive effort in the face of a fierce assault from the Spanish champions, one which spilt over into a 20-man melee on the pitch and then further clashes in the tunnel.
Felipe was sent off for his part in the bedlam after there had been niggles throughout and City were not happy with Felipe's shoulder barge into the head of Phil Foden that left the player with a bandaged head. And when the same player slid into Foden as he raced down the touchline, and then took exception to the City youngster's theatrical rolling. When fellow defender Stefan Savic then picked up Foden and dumped him off the pitch, City players raced across to support their teammate and bedlam ensued.
Savic had his head in the face of Raheem Sterling and pulled the hair of unused sub Jack Grealish, who had raced down the touchline to the aid of his young pal. He got a yellow card for his quadruple offences. Atletico were angry that City began the histrionics that they had been performing over both legs, and complained bitterly that more time had not been added.
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Fans threw beer at Guardiola as he went down the tunnel, and Atleti player Sime Vrsaljko was caught on film throwing something at a group of City players and officials as they made their way back to the dressing rooms - with police being called in to restore order.
Guardiola refused to comment about the affair: "I have nothing to say," he said. "Don’t talk about referees. Or the opponents. Everyone saw the actions, that’s all. I’ve nothing to say. We take dinner and then we prepare for the FA Cup semi-final.
"It’s always difficult with these people in this stadium. It’s a big compliment for the players. We gave everything. We have to live these kind of situations. We can’t expect that we’re going to make everything marvellous against the champions of Spain. The opponent was really, really good."
"They pushed us a lot. They were excellent in the second half. We forgot to play. Our legs weren’t fresh enough. We were in big, big trouble."
John Stones and Aymeric Laporte were to the fire as Atleti threw everything at the Blues in the second half, and Guardiola was full of praise for the attitude his players showed.
"We defended with everything," he said. "Fernandinho was excellent, he gave us an incredible boost in that moment. We have to adapt when we couldn’t have the ball, the build-up was without intention. It’s the third time in our history. We felt the pressure a little bit. It’s an incredible achievement.
"John was brilliant. Aymeric as well. Everyone. There are a lot of games in our legs. The travel was demanding and we dropped in the second half. We were resilient. In the end we were lucky enough to go through. We deserved to go through."
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