Atletico & Man City clash in tunnel after bad-tempered Champions League battle

Tensions boiled over in the final minutes in the Spanish capital as City held on to their slender advantage to make the last four

The bad blood between Atletico Madrid and Manchester City on Wednesday carried over from the pitch to the tunnel after the visitors squeezed through in the Champions League quarter-final decider.

City were able to hold on despite a late Atletico onslaught to go through 1-0 on aggregate at the Wanda Metropolitano after a 0-0 draw on the night.

But the game was overshadowed in the final minutes by a fight involving several players from both sides, and the end of the game apparently did little to calm tensions, with players reportedly needing to be pulled apart as they headed to the changing rooms.

"We're all footballers and we know that what happens on the pitch stays there," City's Rodri, an ex-Atletico player himself, explained to Movistar when asked about the tunnel fight, which saw Stefan Savic and Jack Grealish having to be separated having previously clashed on the field.

"It's a game with a lot of emotions and a really close result. I don't really know what happened. A bit of a brawl has occured.

"I've tried to get away - they're my former team-mates and these kinds of things aren't pleasant. It's just an anecdote and we've managed to separate [the aggressors]."

Aymeric Laporte added: "It's true that it is always unpleasant to come up against this kind of move that ends in a brawl.

"But it is insignificant. In the end it creates a whole lot of talk over very little. This hurt [Atletico] more than us."

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak, on the other hand, offered little opinion on those heated final minutes at the Wanda.

"I didn't see anything because I was outside thanking the people. The mood in the stands is incredible," the Slovenian explained.