Stefan Savic appeared to pull Jack Grealish's hair during an ugly brawl near the end of Manchester City’s hard-fought draw with Atletico Madrid.
City progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday night after a goalless draw at the Wanda Metropolitano sealed a 1-0 aggregate victory for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The ill-tempered match was littered with fouls and cards, as referee Daniel Siebert struggled to keep a lid on things.
Phil Foden was repeatedly targeted by the opposition and was left with a bandaged head early in the match after a shocking challenge from Atletico defender Felipe.
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The pair clashed again in the closing stages of the match when Felipe appeared to kick out at Foden, causing the England international to fall to the ground.
After seeing Foden roll back onto the field of play, Savic attempted the drag the City player back to his feet – forcing Oleksandr Zinchenko to defend his teammate.
Savic's aggressive action sparked a huge brawl between the two sets of players, that eventually saw the defender booked and his teammate Felipe shown a red card.
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Grealish was an unused substitute in the match but that didn’t stop him from winding up Savic, who he had previously clashed with during the first leg at the Etihad.
During the brawl, Grealish appeared to call Savic a c***, with the Montenegrin defender retaliating by pulling the Manchester City player's hair.
Despite huge pressure in the final minutes, City held on for the draw to book their place in the last four, where they will face Atletico's rivals Real Madrid.
BT Sport reported after the match that Savic got into a 'physical altercation' with Grealish in the tunnel, and that police were involved.
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Speaking after full-time, City defender John Stones said he was proud of his teammates for keeping their cool in the match.
“We know they sometimes try and make things happen like that and I thought we dealt with it really well,” Stones told BT Sport.
“It’s not nice to talk about that and I don’t want to dwell on it too much because over the two legs I thought we played incredible against such an experienced team in what they do.
“I’m so proud of the lads today with how we kept our control, our tempers. It’s so easy to get drawn into stuff like that.
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“So happy to be through, a great night.”
Topics: Jack Grealish, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Champions League, Football
