Atletico Madrid and Manchester City face the threat of a UEFA investigation after a series of bust-ups marred the end of their Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday night.
The two sides played out a heated match, which City won 1-0 on aggregate after a goalless draw last night, and it boiled over towards the end after Atletico defender Felipe was sent off following a late tackle on Phil Foden which earned him a second booking.
Atletico and City players had to be pulled apart, while tempers flared once again after the final whistle. Players clashed in the tunnel at the Wanda Metropolitano, with staff from both teams ensuring they were kept apart and police also getting involved.
UEFA were this morning waiting for the referee’s report before deciding whether to launch an investigation. A UEFA ethics and disciplinary inspector could be appointed to ascertain exactly what transpired.
Footage from the tunnel on social media shows City midfielder Jack Grealish and Atletico defender Stefan Savic exchanging heated words and being kept apart by team-mates.
City were unhappy with Savic, who spent one season at the club in 2011-12, after he appeared to head-butt Raheem Sterling during the match and pull Grealish’s hair.
City defender John Stones said: “We know that they sometimes try to make things happen like that and we dealt with it really well.
“It’s not nice to talk about and I don’t want to dwell on it, because over the two legs we played incredibly well against such an experienced side. We kept our tempers but it is easy to get drawn into stuff like that.
“We knew it was not an easy place to come, it is a hostile environment, it was a difficult night all round and how we defended and controlled ourselves over the two legs was incredible.”
City must now dust themselves down in time for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
Last night’s bruising encounter has taken its toll on them, though, as both Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker limped off in the second half. Foden also played almost the entire game with a bandaged head, after Felipe caught him in the air.
City boss Pep Guardiola said: “We are in big trouble, so we can’t forget we played three days ago, travelled, came here, have a lot of injuries now and I don’t know what will happen in the next weeks. But today we celebrate, because it is the third time in our history we are in the Champions League semi-finals.”
Liverpool warmed up for the FA Cup semi-final with a more straightforward night, as they drew 3-3 with Benfica at Anfield, meaning they won their quarter-final 6-4 on aggregate.
In what could be a significant advantage, Jurgen Klopp was able to make seven changes from the side who won the first leg in Portugal, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk spending the whole game on the bench.
City’s match against Liverpool is the first of two Cup semi-finals at Wembley this weekend, and both will have increased security.
The measures were put in place at February’s Carabao Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool, having been brought in following extensive crowd disturbances at last summer’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy. They will now be in force once again this weekend for both semi-finals.
