The proverbial “scenes nobody wants to see” were, as always, scenes millions of fans revelled in, but they painted Atletico Madrid in ignominy as they crashed out of the Champions League.
Manchester City held their nerve for a goalless draw in the Spanish capital, carrying over a 1-0 lead from the first leg, a feat made all the more admirable by the hosts’ behaviour which culminated in a mass brawl in the tunnel.
On BT Sport commentary duties, Glenn Hoddle described Atletico’s chief aggressor Stefan Savic as “totally out of control and out of order” and the Rojiblancos as a whole as having “lost the plot”.
Gary Neville, on the other hand, tweeted: “I loved the Real Madrid vs Chelsea match – unpopular view but I loved the Atletico Madrid vs City match too. I know most were disappointed with the [Atletico] behaviour, but I sort of enjoyed it. Try and find a way to win, even if [you’re] inferior in talent. City’s players will be proud this morning in overcoming it!”
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i looks at the biggest flash points that led to tensions boiling over at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Grealish vs Savic
Aymeric Laporte and John Stones squared up to nine Atletico players by the corner flag as a melee broke out in the closing stages, with Grealish’s reaction to Savic going viral – largely thanks to amateur lip-readers noticing him appear to shout: “Hey you, you’re a c___”. A way with words indeed.
Savic’s response was equally juvenile, grabbing Grealish by the hair. Incredibly, Savic was deemed not to have committed a single foul over the two legs, though he did get himself in the referee’s book.
Felipe vs Foden
That was all sparked by Felipe’s challenge on Foden. Not only did the centre-back go in two-footed while already on a yellow card, he appeared to kick out as he wheeled away to get up again, leaving the England international writhing in agony on the floor. Savic then made his way over and tried to pull Foden up to his feet by the shirt.
Felipe vs Foden – the prequel
Earlier, Felipe had needlessly gone for a high challenge on Foden despite being nowhere near the ball. It led to the City forward receiving treatment on the pitch and subsequently sporting a Terry Butcher-style bandage on his head for the rest of the night.
Savic vs Sterling
Savic was also seen putting his head in towards Raheem Sterling, another incident which was overlooked by VAR. L’Equipe have described the Atletico defender’s performance as “serene”.
Simeone vs the world
Savic’s antics eventually became too much even for Simeone as he berated his player for an off-the-ball incident in injury time while Atletico chased an equaliser. But Simeone had played his part in whipping up the atmosphere, continuously breaching the boundaries of his technical area and being shown a yellow card late on. “The fourth official has had enough of him,” added Darren Fletcher on commentary.
Unsurprisingly, the night culminated in more face-to-face scraps in the tunnel captured on camera, with journalist Guillem Balague reporting he had seen spitting and throwing objects. Unverified reports also suggest Pep Guardiola had liquid thrown at him and that police were forced to intervene.
At the end of it all, Manchester City are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League, when they will return to Madrid again to face Real.
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