Both players were sent off for their part in the fight
Injury time of Atlético Madrid’s clash against Barcelona was marred as both Ferran Torres and Stefan Savić were sent off.
Barça beat Atlético 1-0 to move two points clear of rivals Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga courtesy of Ousmane Dembélé’s 22nd minute strike.
Youngsters Pedri and Gavi combined beautifully to tee up the Frenchman, who cooly slotted past Jan Oblak, however it will be events in injury time that this game will be remembered for.
𝒱𝒾𝓃𝓉𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓃𝒶 🔴🔵
A fantastic bit of play from Pedri and Gavi sees Demebele put the Catalans in front 🤩#ITVFootball | #AtletiBarca pic.twitter.com/LK6Z0D3zzC
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 8, 2023
With 92 minutes on the clock, Torres and Savić challenged for the ball. Torres managed to come away with the ball but promptly gave away the ball moments later.
He then continued to tangle with Savić as the pair grappled on the ground, pulling each other’s hair and shoving each other before eventually pulling apart.
The referee wasted no time in showing a red card to both players. Montenegro international Savić tried to protest the decision, but the official’s mind was made up.
🔴😤 The WWE would be proud of this…
Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres see red for an off the ball scuffle 🤦♂️#ITVFootball | #AtletiBarca pic.twitter.com/Xe8EkW202n
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 8, 2023
Torres meanwhile looked just as bemused despite it being clear and obvious to everybody in the stadium and watching at home that both players deserved a red card.
Xavi’s side have now moved three points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table whereas Atlético sit in fifth place, one point away from the final Champions League spot.
After the game the Barça boss described the win as a big one: “The first half hour convinced me we had the game under control. These are three golden points.
“They have squeezed us, and we have suffered, to keep a clean sheet. Today without playing so well, we got three points.”
Meanwhile, Simeone rued his side’s poor start to the game: “The reality is we lost. It’s true the team deserved to get a better result, which did not appear, because we were not forceful enough.
“”After a poor first 20 minutes, the team competed as I wanted, but that did not change the result.”
Related links:
- Lukas Podolski sent off during his own charity tournament
- Espanyol file official complaint over Robert Lewandowski being ‘improperly fielded’
- Barcelona unable to print Lewandowski shirts after running out of ‘W’s’
