Atletico Madrid were left angered by the situation at Arsenal on Monday night as their players were without hot water at the Emirates following their training session - leading to a complaint with UEFA
Atletico Madrid have lodged an official complaint with UEFA after they trained at the Emirates - only to be left with no hot water after their session - forcing them to prematurely head back to their hotel.
The Spanish outfit went through their paces at Arsenal's stadium in north London on Monday evening ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash. However those connected with the La Liga side were 'surprised' and 'angered' when they rocked up at the venue to discover changing rooms without hot water.
They made UEFA aware so that they could ‘acknowledge the anomalous situation’, reports Marca. It is understood that Atletico reported the issue to those connected with Arsenal before their training session started at 6.45pm.
But by the time their short training stint finished at 7.15pm the issue had not been fixed and it meant the players had to jump onto the team bus and return to their London hotel to wash.
It is understood that Atletico’s management were baffled as to how the Emirates, one of the best grounds in England, would be lacking hot water. Arsenal acknowledged the error and said the hot water supply was restored by 7.25pm, once the Atletico squad had left. Football.London reports that plumbing issues left both the home and away changing rooms without hot water.
It was an unwanted blip to Atletico's preparations as they bid to enjoy more success than their most recent trip to England. They were beaten 3-2 at Liverpool several weeks ago when Virgil van Dijk scored a header in stoppage time. Diego Simeone's side had fought back from 2-0 down to level the contest.
Arsenal are one of six clubs to enjoy perfect records from their two games thus far whilst Atletico have three points from a possible six. They reacted impressively to their loss at Anfield by hammering Frankfurt in the Spanish capital.
Ahead of the contest Mikel Arteta has heaped praise for his opposite number, who has been in charge at Atletico for 14 years. He said: "I think what he’s done since he got to Atletico has been outstanding, not only what he has achieved but the way he’s done it.
"I think the identity that he has created to the club, to the team, the spirit, I think they are very simple and clear to identify and that’s because the manager is very much them.
"And that’s extremely difficult to achieve for a short period of time and to do it for 14 years, I think he’s been there now, he’s done something incredible so yeah, a pleasure to meet him."