The war on the pitch at the Wanda Metropolitano showed no signs of abating once the referee blew his whistle for the last time last night.
Atletico Madrid ultimately went out to Manchester City, suffering a defeat 1-0 on aggregate after a hard-fought second leg. The tension from the occasion spiralled into chaos towards the end of the match with a Felipe challenge the touch paper for a skirmish as things drew to a close.
The accusations continued to fly to when the players got down the tunnel too. The managers were more measured in their words, but Diego Simeone also sent a thinly-veiled message to his opposite number in the press room.
There was plenty of debate across the media about time-wasting and stylistic preferences. Speaking to Movistar on the pitch after the match, Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte was keen to ensure the blame was shared around.
“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.”
Mundo Deportivo carried his words, in which he continued to show little sympathy for Atletico Madrid. According to the Spanish international, Atletico only had themselves to blame.
“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 us.”
In his own flash interview, his international teammate Koke Resurreccion highlighted the Manchester City time-wasting and accused the media of hypocrisy when talking about the two teams.
Neither side appears to be willing to let go of their grievances and any future meetings are sure to be tasty affairs.
