Manchester City FC v Real Madrid CF - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg
Rudiger was not happy with the Man City boss (Picture: Getty)
Antonio Ruidger and Pep Guardiola were involved in a furious bust-up in the aftermath of Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Manchester City.
Trailing 3-0 from the first leg in Spain last week, City had it all to do back in Manchester on Tuesday night.
Hopes of a comeback were dismissed just 20 minutes in with Bernardo Silva sent off with Vinicius Jr scoring from the penalty spot.
While Erling Haaland pulled one back before half-time, City had no fight left in them with Vinicius scoring again late on to seal a 5-1 victory on aggregate.
After the game, players and staff from both sides amicably shook hands with Guardiola approaching Eduardo Camavinga, Dean Huijsen and Ernesto Valverde to congratulate them before making his way over to Rudiger.
Guardiola approached the former Chelsea star with his hand extended with Rudiger accepting. But it was immediately clear the defender was not happy, appearing visibly upset as he berated a surprised-looking Guardiola.
As the row escalated, Nathan Ake and Arda Guler approached the two to calm the situation with Real boss Alvaro Arbeloa eventually coming over to usher his player away.
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Manchester City FC v Real Madrid CF - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg
Players from both teams separated the pair (Picture: Getty Images)
Rudiger turned back to give Guardiola some more, with the City boss responding by blowing kisses in the direction of the Germany international.
It is not clear what sparked the row with neither Guardiola or Rudiger discussing it post-match.
Real will meet Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals should the German champions finish the job against Atalanta, 6-1 up from last week’s first leg.
City meanwhile immediately shift focus to the Carabao Cup final where they will take on Arsenal this Sunday at Wembley.
‘We will challenge against the best team in England, so far, the best team in Europe, look at the results in the group stage, they have been the first, they’ve maybe lost three or four games this season,’ Guardiola said om Tuesday night.
‘It’s the best, challenge them how we are, compete with them, we’ll have to see, after one or two weeks we play them in the Premier League and see. Football is that.’
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