City defender John Stones praised his team’s “incredible” composure in a fiery goalless draw away to Atletico Madrid as Pep Guardiola’s side set up a blockbuster Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
Kevin De Bruyne scored the only goal of the tie in the first leg in Manchester and City held on despite a bad-tempered finish to the return leg in the Spanish capital.
Felipe sent off
Atletico centre-back Felipe was sent off late on for a wild swipe at Phil Foden, an incident that triggered a mass brawl in the corner of the pitch and resulted in more than 12 minutes of stoppage time being played.
John Stones
“We know that they sometimes try and make things happen like that and we dealt with it really well,” Stones told BT Sport.
“It is not nice to talk about and I don’t want to dwell on it because over the two legs we played incredible against such an experienced side in what they do. We kept our tempers and it is easy to get drawn into stuff like that.”
He added: “We knew it was not an easy place to come, it is a hostile environment, it was a difficult night all round and how we defended and controlled ourselves over the two legs was incredible.”
Nothing to say: Pep
Guardiola opted not to get involved in a war of words with his Spanish opponents. When asked if he thought Atletico had gone too far, he said: “Nothing to say. I cannot talk about what other people do.”
Liverpool face Villarreal
Meanwhile, Liverpool booked a Champions League semi-final showdown against Villarreal as the quadruple chasers survived a late collapse in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against Benfica.
Jurgen Klopp’s side already had one foot in the last four after winning 3-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon. Ibrahima Konate put Liverpool ahead before Goncalo Ramos equalised late in the first half.
When Roberto Firmino netted twice after the interval, the tie looked all but over. However, Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez struck for Benfica to briefly give the visitors hope of an astonishing escape act, before Liverpool finally restored order.
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