Atletico Madrid make complaint to UEFA ahead of Champions League clash with Arsenal | Football

Atletico Madrid have reportedly issued a complaint to UEFA after a group of Arsenal fans set off a fireworks display outside their team hotel on the eve of the side’s Champions League semi-final second leg.

Tensions will already have been high after Viktor Gyokeres and Julian Alvarez exchanged penalties to leave the tie evenly poised after a compelling first leg at the Metropolitano last week.

Arsenal are the favourites to advance through to this year’s final and will no doubt be buoyed after their Premier League title rivals Manchester City slipped up at Everton on Monday evening.

But just hours after City’s 1-1 draw on Merseyside, Arsenal supporters looked to gain an extra advantage over Atleti by trying to unsettle and disrupt Simeone’s squad, who were staying at the Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch in east London.

According to Spanish publication AS, the ‘perfectly orchestrated’ fireworks display began at 1:30am GMT – before a further round of pyrotechnics wreaked havoc at 2am GMT.

The report claims Atleti bosses were quick to report the dark arts to UEFA, while adding that the incident is likely to be discussed during the teams’ pre-match meeting.

A short video circulating on social media shows a series of pink-coloured fireworks whistling past Atleti’s hotel before letting off loud explosions in the night sky.

‘Who would do such a thing? [laughing emoji],’ one Arsenal fan quipped in response to the footage.

Another joked: ‘Massive coincidence.’

‘I hope they got the lasagna as well,’ a third wrote.

A separate report from Marca claims several of Atleti’s staff and playing squad were directly affected by the fireworks display.

Before last Wednesday’s first leg in Madrid, Arsenal made complaints of their own about the state of the Metropolitano pitch.

The Gunners were said to be unhappy with the length of the grass inside the stadium and asked UEFA to carry out an inspection just hours before kick-off in the Spanish capital.

‘I need to tell you about the grass war that took place just about an hour ago,’ CBS Sports reporter Guillem Balague explained at the time.

‘Arsenal’s ground staff came in thinking the grass is too high, “We’re not happy with it”. They asked UEFA to actually measure it. They thought it was Simeone creating some dark arts.

‘After a while, UEFA said ‘no, it’s actually 26mm’. The limit is 30mm. It’s 21-30mm. By the way, it was the same as when they played Barcelona here.’

Facing the media ahead of tonight’s meeting, Mikel Arteta reassured fans that his players would become ‘beasts’ in their efforts to reach a first Champions League final in two decades.

‘Go and grab it. When you are in front of such an opportunity, it means that you are ready to deliver, and the team is going to go for the first minute to go and get that,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters.

‘We always talked about in this moment that we need players with a great emotional state, because I think that determines the rest, and we are feeling very good for tomorrow.

‘I feel the energy in and amongst the team, our supporters. So this is the moment that we want to live together.

‘We have a lot of work as a club, as a team, after 20 years to be in this position again. We are so hungry to get the game that we want tomorrow and go through to that final.’

The Spaniard added: ‘The only thing I have is to finish preparing tomorrow, as best as possible, the game, the team, and that we go out there like beasts, enjoy the moment and go for it.’

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