STEVEN GERRARD and Martin Keown crossed swords when discussing managerial touchline antics following Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid.
A trio of major decisions became the headline act of the game at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, with Arsenal feeling particularly aggrieved in the second half.
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Steven Gerrard and Martin Keown clashed when discussing the touchline antics of Diego Simeone Credit: TNT
Diego Simeone put in a big ‘performance’ to influence the referee’s penalty decisions Credit: PA
Having taken the lead through a Viktor Gyokeres penalty before the break, Ben White conceded a controversial penalty when the ball hit his trailing arm.
Half an hour later the Gunners had even more reason to be angry as Eberechi Eze was denied a penalty despite David Hancko appearing to clip his boot in the penalty area.
Simeone made a big song and dance on the touchline about the decision as it went to review, with referee Danny Makkelie then overturning his original decision of giving a penalty to award a free-kick in the hosts favour.
Ian Wright led the Arsenal anger on social media, while Gerrard, Keown and Steve McManaman gave their thoughts on Simeone’s “atrocious” behaviour throughout the night.
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Liverpool legend and 2005 Champions League winner Gerrard said referees “need to have more bravery” to stick to their guns, and explained the “impact from the bench” might have swayed the decision.
The 45-year-old called the emotive Argentine boss “brilliant” at it, adding that his co-pundit and Arsenal icon Keown wouldn’t like that analysis of him being the “best at” the “gamesmanship” and “performance” of influencing those decisions.
Keown, 59, echoed the point of Simeone influencing the crowd and officials by “creating a drama” and “running around”.
But at that moment Gerrard suddenly interjected, pointing out Arteta does the same in the Premier League, with Keown countering by saying it was not done with the same success as the “master” Simeone.
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Following an initial look of amazement, Gerrard replied: “Yeah but we’re not talking about success we’re talking about [what they do].”
Keown said: “Simeone is ahead of everybody.”
Gerrard joked both managers would need to “lie down” after the game, with Keown joking he would love to have put a tracker on Simeone to see what distance he covered in the technical area.
McManaman then went in two-footed on Simeone’s antics on the night.
Gerrard butted into Keown’s point to say Mikel Arteta does the same in the Premier League Credit: PA
The pair agreed Simeone was a ‘master’ of the dark arts Credit: Getty
He said: “His behaviour tonight, the cameras weren’t always on him with the Spanish TV directors, but we could see what was going on.
“And his behaviour and his number two and number three towards the referee and fourth official were terrible, absolutely awful.
“And he changed his mind if it was an Arsenal player or Atletico player, the performance was terrible.
“People don’t like the dark arts so don’t like Atletico Madrid.”
Keown added it made the referee “look foolish” by not being able to make his own decision.
Despite the controversy, the draw is not a bad result for Arsenal to take back to the Emirates for the second leg on May 5, especially considering their 4-0 win over the Spanish side there earlier in the season.
