Manchester City’s Jack Grealish and Atletico Madrid’s Stefan Savic were heated throughout both legs of the UCL quarters but it boiled over in the tunnel.
Whenever you get into later legs of a competition like the Champions League, you’re going to see emotions take over from time to time. That’s certainly what Manchester City man Jack Grealish and one of his Atletico Madrid opponents from Wednesday, Stefan Savic, are going to argue after the match — or, well, after the post-match shenanigans.
After a heated nil-nil draw that saw City push through the UCL semifinals, there were tempers flaring for both sides.
However, after a heated verbal spat on the sidelines between Grealish and Savic, the tensions spilled over into the tunnel into a “physical altercation” in which police had to help separate the two players.
Breaking: BT Sport are reporting that Stefan Savic has got into a 'physical altercation' with Jack Grealish in the tunnel, with police involved.
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) April 13, 2022
Watch: Manchester City’s Jack Grealish’s spat with Stefan Savic spill into tunnel
Because the soccer gods are merciful, we have at least some video footage of the fight in the tunnel with Grealish and Savic yelling back-and-forth, teammates trying to keep them separated, and then police running to separate them after they moved out of the frame.
https://twitter.com/fvckazzar/status/1514353876924776470
Rumors on social media suggest that Grealish and Savic were trying to headbutt one another, which is what led to the police intervention in the tunnel.
As to how this came about, it might’ve had something to do with A. Atletico taking a tough loss at home on aggregate thanks to Wednesday’s draw, and B. Grealish having his hair pulled multiple times during the match with Savic involved.
Atletico Madrid had one fewer (2) strokes of Jack Grealish’s hair, than they did shots on target (3) across the two legs. pic.twitter.com/kQnS7N4YxA
— Amos Murphy (@AmosMurphy_) April 13, 2022
Still, it seems like it was an ugly scene in Madrid after the Manchester City victory. But if you go back and watch the video of the altercation, it does seem like Grealish was thoroughly enjoying himself. Fights must feel better after moving on in the competition.