Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone criticized fans who threw objects on the pitch during the Madrid derby, causing the game to be temporarily suspended, and urged players to be ‘cautious’ if they ‘provoke’ fans.
Sunday’s La Liga match was stopped midway through the second half after fans repeatedly threw objects, including lighters and plastic bottles, behind the Metropolitano’s goal.
Éder Militão put Real Madrid 1–0 ahead in the 64th minute, before Ángel Correa equalized in the 96th minute after play resumed after a 20-minute delay, with Atlético’s Marcos Llorente sent off.
Simeone suggested Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was partly responsible for the actions of fans celebrating after Militao’s goal.
“We all have to help,” Simeone told DAZN. “Obviously it’s not right for fans to throw lighters, as it is for Courtois to get hit on the head with a lighter, as happened at the Bernabeu when he was our player. But our heroes don’t help when they provoke the fans. And the fans get angry. .
“(Throwing objects) is not right, it is not right, but we have to stay calm and understand the situation and know how to celebrate a goal without seeing the stands with such gestures.”
When referee Matteo Busquets Ferrer first paused the match, fans were warned over the stadium loudspeakers to stop the match, and Simeone and captain Koke approached them and urged them to calm down.
“The message was to think about the club, think about the team.” Simeone said later: “You’re not helping the team. You said it wasn’t your fault, it was the opposing goalkeeper that provoked you.”
As more objects were thrown, the referee called both teams off the field and the game was called off for the first 10 minutes, then extended to 15 minutes.
“The club will take the decisions it needs to take together with the fans who committed these incidents,” Simeone said in his post-match press conference. “We need fans who support us and think about the team and the club, not just fans in the stands.
“That doesn’t justify it, but as protagonists we can help people not react that way. It doesn’t justify it, but be careful what we do, including myself.”
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti praised the referee’s decision to stop the match.
“I think it was the right decision,” he said. “It was the right thing to do. No one likes to stop the game, everyone wanted to play, but I think the referee did a good job.”
Ancelotti also revealed Courtois would be tested on Monday for a muscle injury he suffered towards the end of the game.
A source told ESPN they feared the goalkeeper may have suffered a small muscle tear.
Atleti released a statement after the match: “From the moment (the object) was thrown, the club’s security department has been working with the police to identify those involved, one of whom has already been identified. … This attitude is unacceptable in football. “There are no seats available and it is tarnishing the image of the stadium where over 70,000 fans are seated in the stands, many of whom demonstrate exemplary behavior and experience a spectacular atmosphere.”
The suspension comes a day after the Spanish league said it would ask police to take action against the promoters of a social media campaign aimed at promoting racist behavior against Vinicius at the derby.
The social media campaign was based on a hashtag encouraging Atlético fans to wear face masks, which appeared to make it more difficult for authorities to identify individuals engaging in racist chants or insults.
