Atletico Madrid captain, Koke, has blamed Manchester City players for the sparked ‘madness’ during his side’s Champions League quarter-final second leg 0-0 draw against the Citizens on Wednesday.
Koke claimed that Manchester City’s time-wasting and play-acting provoked Atletico Madrid in their fiery Champions League encounter towards the end of the match at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Man City eventually qualified for the Champions League semi-final on a 1-0 aggregate win, having won the first leg 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium last week.
The closing stage of the tie in Spain was marred by several ugly scenes, with eleven minutes of stoppage time seeing a flurry of bookings.
A total of eleven cards were branded out, two of which went to Felipe and one to coach Diego Simeone as tensions boiled over.
Stefan Savic appeared to be at the heart of it, too, after he grabbed Phil Foden by the shirt, sparking a melee involving all 22 players and players off the bench.
And Koke has now blamed Man City stars for scenes where players clashed on the pitch and then in the tunnel after the game.
“The match takes you to that madness when you see that you have chances and they [Man City players] drop to the ground and waste time,” Koke said at his post-match press conference, arguing that it was City who were guilty of supposed ‘anti-football’ tactics.
“Many times we are criticised for this situation, but today it was them. Let’s see what people think of this. Today it has been seen, we are Atletico de Madrid and I am proud of this team.
“I am proud of my team-mates for their effort. I have nothing to reproach the team with. I’m proud of everyone and the fans, who have lost, stayed to applaud us after the game. This is Atletico.”
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