Atlético Madrid have complained to UEFA after fireworks were set off outside the team hotel in the early hours of this morning ahead of the team’s Champions League semifinal with Arsenal.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Madrid last week, Atlético visit Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening looking to progress to their first Champions League final since 2016.
Fireworks were set off overnight outside the team’s hotel in Shoreditch, London, at 1.30 a.m. and again at 2 a.m., a club spokesperson confirmed to ESPN, with Atlético notifying UEFA about the incident on Tuesday morning.
In his pre-match news conference on Monday, coach Diego Simeone had joked that Atlético had switched hotels from when the team were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal in October during the league phase because their new accommodation was “cheaper.”
Atlético, like Arsenal, have never won the European Cup, although the Spanish side have reached four finals, three of them with Simeone in charge.
“Every time you start the Champions League [season], you see yourself lifting the trophy,” said forward Antoine Griezmann, who will leave Atlético for Orlando City this summer, on Monday.
“Every team, every player, every kid in his bedroom [dreams of it]. We do too. We’re two games away. We have to be right tactically, both defensively and offensively. We have to maintain the same level we showed in the second half of the first leg.”
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