Former Italy striker Luca Toni admits Felipe’s foul on Phil Foden was ‘awful’ but believes the England international somehow caused the massive brawl at the end of Atletico vs. Man City last night.
Manchester City qualified for the Champions League semi-finals after a tense match at the Wanda Metropolitano. It ended in a 0-0 draw and with a huge brawl between players. It all began with a foul of Atletico Madrid defender Felipe on Foden, which cost a red card to the Brazilian defender.
“The foul was awful, Felipe was wrong and I don’t even know why he complained. He knows there is VAR and he deliberately kicked his opponent,” Toni told Amazon Prime video.
“However, Foden was asking for trouble. He was off the pitch but then rolled back on [to waste time]. These are bad images, it would be better not to vent anger like that, but I know it’s not easy.
“They were all wrong, this aggressivity brings to making mistakes sometimes.”
Toni, a 2006 Italy World Cup winner, scored 157 goals in 344 serie A appearances. He never won the Champions League, but became German champions with Bayern Munich twice.
He was part of Antonio Conte’s Juventus in 2011-12 but left the team in January not being part of the coach’s plans. He scored the first-ever goal at the Allianz Stadium in a friendly match against Notts County in September 2011.