The Manchester City and Atletico Madrid players came together in what turned into a massive brawl both before and after the referee blew his full-time whistle. Players from both sides and the media – both Spanish and English – have since reacted to the ugly scenes at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.
Chaos descended on the pitch as the clock ticked towards the end of the tie on Wednesday night. City’s visit to Atletico had always promised to be a spicy affair, but things really kicked off between the two camps after Felipe’s foul – and then an alleged kick – on Phil Foden in the 89th minute of the game.
The Brazilian, already on a yellow card, disappeared into the background while his central defensive partner, and ex-City player, Stefan Savic came barging forward, blaming, and then dragging, Foden for what he thought was play-acting.
A mass brawl broke out with Felipe, Savic and Nathan Ake all picking up a booking each – the latter was sent off for his second bookable offence as things subsided on the pitch.
The Citizens held on to win the tie 1-0 on aggregate, courtesy of a Kevin de Bruyne goal from the first leg. Meanwhile, the Atleti faithful continued to serenade their team from the stands long after the referee had blown his full-time whistle; at the same time, the two sets of players continued their clash inside the Metropolitano tunnel and were eventually separated by the police.
Atletico midfielder Koke laid the blame on Manchester City, claiming that constant time-wasting from the away side pushed his teammates to madness.
“The match takes you to that madness when you see that you have chances and they drop to the ground and waste time,”
he said.
“I don’t know if it was us wasting time or them in the end, because they were getting into absurd fights, but I won’t go into more detail. We didn’t start everything. This is football. We all know what they’re like and when they do it other teams haven’t complained,”
replied his international teammate and City defender Aymeric Laporte.
“It’s true that it’s always ugly to see these types of plays, when you end up in a scuffle. It’s superficial. A big scrap is created by very little. It hurt them more than us. In the end, if they fall into the trap then that’s the way it is,”
he added.
Remarkably, media coverage on either side of the Channel was dramatically different. While the Spanish press lamented City’s tactics and praised the Atletico players for showing grit – one article even claiming “Everyone needs a leader like Savic” – the English press lambasted Atletico for sparking the late-match brawl.
TalkSPORT lamented the fact that Diego Simeone and his men “lost control and turned the tie into a UFC brawl” – the sentiment echoed throughout the English Isles.
Nonetheless, in the end, after all the ruckus had died down, the current Premier League leaders were the ones taking place among the four remaining participants.
The Citizens aren’t done with Madrid just yet, however. Next up for Guardiola’s men is a semifinal against 13-time European champions Real Madrid.
