Diego Simeone shoved Andrea Berta on the sidelines, but the Arsenal sporting director had the last laugh by celebrating on the Emirates Stadium pitch afterwards
Andrea Berta did not let an altercation with Diego Simeone affect his celebrations after Arsenal beat Atletico Madrid to qualify for the Champions League final.
Berta, 54, clashed with Simeone, 56, on the touchline during second-half added-time, with the Atletico head coach seemingly shoving Arsenal’s sporting director at one stage. That incident occurred in the 95th minute, after the match ball went out of play and ended up between the dugouts.
Before play resumed, Simeone appeared to push Berta away from the fourth official, Tobias Stieler. The pair know each other well, having worked together until last summer at Atletico.
After getting one over his former employers, Berta pumped his right fist in the air on the Emirates Stadium pitch during the post-match celebrations. He also embraced several members of the Arsenal staff while walking through a crowd of them on the touchline.
That moment came mere minutes after having to be separated from Simeone. The Argentine took matters into his own hands after calling for referee Daniel Siebert to move Arsenal staff away from the pitch during added-time.
He pushed his former sporting director towards the tunnel he had emerged from. Simeone was subsequently sent back to his technical area.
On the opposite side, Mikel Arteta called for Siebert to blow the full-time whistle. Both he and Simeone received yellow cards in the second and third minutes of added time, respectively, for their behaviour on the sideline.
Amazon Prime commentator Jon Champion said: “All sorts of antics and now it’s kicking off down in the technical area.” Alan Shearer added: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people down on the touchline.”
Champion continued: “This has been fizzing for a fair while. Nelson Vivas and a couple of members of the Atletico coaching staff are being sent back to their dugout.”
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Berta’s presence added an edge to this tie due to his long-time affiliation with Atletico. The Italian spent over a decade at the La Liga club, joining initially as technical director in 2013 before becoming their sporting director four years later.
He remained in that role until early January 2025 after reaching an agreement with Atletico to terminate his contract. Arsenal then announced his impending appointment less than three months later.
Now, barely a year later, Berta has helped assemble the team that denied his former club a place in another Champions League final. For him, it is a third in 13 years.
