Man City boss Pep Guardiola issues blunt response after chaotic Atletico Madrid draw

Atletico Madrid v Man City: Match in pictures

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has spoken out after ugly scenes marred his side’s 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night – but was blunt when asked about the incident. Jack Grealish had his hair pulled by Stefan Savic as things kicked off on the pitch – before the situation escalatied in the tunnel. It came after the reigning Premier League champions booked their place in the semi-finals of the competition with a dogged display in Spain. 

Towards the end of City’s 0-0 draw with Atletico, things kicked off.

Defender Savic was enraged when Phil Foden went down following a tackle by Felipe, who received his marching orders shortly afterwards.

Savic was seen pulling the hair of Jack Grealish, with some fans believing the England international swore at the Atletico defender.

Things then continued to boil over in the tunnel, with eight police officers forced to intervene and bring the chaos to an end.

And Guardiola has now spoken out following the match, praising his side for their performance on the night as they booked their place in the last four – while refusing to delve into the brawl that broke out in the closing stages. 

“It’s the champions of Spain and in the second half they were better than us, we were lucky we didn’t concede,” he said.

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“Overall we are in the semi-finals. It is well deserved.”

“The opposition is so tough, all the teams that come here in the Champions League suffer.”

On the brawl, though, he added: “Nothing to say.”

On whether Foden was targeted, he continued: “I don’t know, I cannot talk about what the other people do. I don’t know.”

Defender John Stones chose to hail his side’s display, rather than focusing on the dark arts of Atletico.

“We know that they sometimes try and make things happen like that and we dealt with it really well, it is not nice to talk about and I don’t want to dwell on it because over the two legs we played incredible against such an experienced side in what they do, we kept our tempers and it is easy to get drawn into stuff like that,” he said.

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“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.

“Phil (Foden) was such a threat in both games, instant impact in the first and how he drove us up the pitch tonight, gained yards and free-kicks – I think he is feeling it now.”

BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand was critical of the way Atletico players behaved during the showdown.

“Distasteful behaviour from the Atletico players, they should be embarrassed with some of the antics they have gone on with – you have to say, talking about football, well done to Atletico Madrid as they made Manchester City play in a way we haven’t seen for a long time, took them out of their rhythm and their stride,” he said.

“But some of the stuff towards the end was not what you want to see on a football pitch.”

Joleon Lescott added: “The last 10 minutes, you can’t condone that.

“Simeone has to take some responsibility because he seemed to be encouraging some behaviour.

“It’s not a thing you want to see from a top level coach. Take nothing away from City, the objective was to get through and they’ve done that so, congratulations.”

And Owen Hargreaves said: “[City are] One of the best defensive teams in the world.

“They had so much composure. That at the end of from Atletico Madrid was a disgrace, they played so well in the game, they don’t need all of that rubbish.

“Yellow cards, red cards, late tackles, pulling hair. Just play football like they did in the second half, the antics were rubbish.

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