Diego Simeone called for more protection for more managers after he said he faced repeated insults from the Anfield crowd before being sent off following an angry confrontation at the end of Atletico Madrid's Uefa Champions League game against Liverpool on Wednesday.
The Atletico coach said he responded to provocation from the crowd after Virgil van Dijk scored a stoppage-time goal in Liverpool's 3-2 win. It sparked a scuffle on the sideline with stewards and members of Atletico's coaching team all caught up in the fracas.
Speaking through an interpreter after the game, Simeone said he was “getting insulted all game” and he reacted because “I’m a human.”
There were furious scenes at the end of the game at Anfield after Atletico had fought back from 2-0 down and then conceded in the second minute of added time to lose the match.
A large scuffle on the sideline saw stewards try to wrestle control of the situation before Simeone was eventually shown a red card by Italian referee Maurizio Mariani.
TV footage showed Simeone confront a fan in the crowd and stewards going over to calm the situation down.
Atletico's combustible coach admitted he should not have reacted but said managers should benefit from similar campaigns that aim to drive racism out of football.
"In the same way we fight against racism, we should look at this too because we don't have a right to respond and it is not easy to be insulted during the entire match," said Simeone.
"My reaction isn't justifiable but do you know what it is like to be insulted for 90 minutes?
"I hope Liverpool can improve that aspect and that when they identify the person who did that, there will be consequences.
"There were insults throughout the match, including gestures. It's clear that I'm the one who has to stay calm, I have to put up with the insults, the gestures and any situation because I'm in a position where I have to put up with it."
Liverpool coach Arne Slot said he was unaware of what happened.
Van Dijk headed home a corner in the second additional minute for the 3-2 success as for the fifth match this season, the Reds netted a winner after the 83rd minute and the third time in four games it has come when regulation time had expired.
Liverpool made things far more difficult for themselves than it should have been after Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah had scored in the opening six minutes.
But for the third time already this campaign, Slot’s side allowed a 2-0 lead to slip before snatching victory in dramatic fashion.
“Everyone will talk about the late goal, which I understand, but for me it is a different game to the ones we played before," Slot said.
“We had numerous moments to score the third one and that is different to Burnley or Newcastle or Arsenal.
“It is not the first time we give away a 2-0 lead as well, which is not what we were known for last season.”
PSG begin title defence with crushing win
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored a superb goal as Paris Saint-Germain began the defence of their Champions League crown with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Atalanta at the Parc des Princes.
Marquinhos opened the scoring inside three minutes as PSG made a fast start in front of their own fans, with Kvaratskhelia bursting through to blast home a second before the interval.
Nuno Mendes added another early in the second half and substitute Goncalo Ramos wrapped up the victory late on.
Bradley Barcola also had a penalty saved in the first half as Luis Enrique's team proved far too strong for their Italian opponents, who had no answer to the threat posed by the European champions.
PSG will now hope to build on this and avoid the troubles that befell them last season, when they won just one and lost three of their first five games in the league phase.
"We played really well and deserved the victory, but we have no set objective because our fixtures are the hardest of any team," insisted the coach.
Victories for Bayern and Inter
Bayern Munich and Inter Milan both won rematches of past finals – against Chelsea and Ajax, respectively – to start their eight-game league-phase, and newcomers Bodo/Glimt and Pafos impressed with hard-earned draws on the road.
Bayern held off Chelsea 3-1 with two goals from Harry Kane, whose England teammate Cole Palmer scored an impressive goal for the visitors. It was a very belated revenge for Bayern losing the 2012 final to Chelsea in their home stadium.
"It was a top performance against a really good side," Kane told DAZN.
"We spoke before the game that we're playing the club world champions and we had to be on it from the start and we were."
Two powerful Marcus Thuram headers secured Inter a 2-0 win at Ajax, the Dutch team that beat the Italians in the 1972 European Cup final.
Inter were on the receiving end of the heaviest European Cup final in history last season when they were thumped 5-0 by PSG.
“This is Inter,” said coach Cristian Chivu, who is leading the team for the first time in the Champions League. “A team with experience, character and the desire to bounce back from a negative period."
Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt had a second-half penalty saved and trailed by two goals late at Slavia Prague, before rallying to level at 2-2 in the 90th minutes.
Pafos ground out a 0-0 draw at Olympiakos after playing with 10 men from the 26th minute. Journeyman Brazilian midfielder Bruno Felipe was sent off for a second yellow-card foul.
Russian-owned Pafos are the first Cypriot team in the Champions League main phase since 2017, and Bodo/Glimt ended Norway's 18-year absence.
