Liverpool fan involved in Diego Simeone row fires back with fresh allegations

The Liverpool fan who was at the centre of the incident which saw Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone sent off in the aftermath of Virgil van Dijk's winning goal in the Champions League has given his side of the story.

Simeone was shown a red card by the referee after losing his head following Van Dijk's header, which made it 3-2 to Liverpool in injury-time. The Atleti boss was seen remonstrating with the home fans behind his dugout and later explained what had happened in his press conference.

“They always talk about taking care of each other, but they insult you throughout the entire match and you can't say anything because you're the manager," he said.

“My reaction was unjustifiable, but do you know what it's like to be insulted for 90 minutes, to turn around after the opponent scores and still be insulted? It's not that easy."

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But Jonny Poulter, the Liverpool fan seen in the stands during the incident, has responded with a video on social media, in which he accuses a member of the Atletico Madrid coaching staff of spitting at him.

“Something I want to get off my chest in regards to what happened last night with Simeone,” he said. “I think he’s a bit of a coward, when he went and did his press conference after the game, the Spanish media asked what was said, whether it was racist, regarding the Falklands War and all this rubbish.

“There was nothing racist said, no mention of the Falklands War by me or anyone else. But the fact he was asked and didn’t answer and just walked out has left it open to speculation across the world.

“I’ve had messages on every platform of people asking what I said. I never said anything apart from [gesture with middle finger] ‘f*** off, we’ve won’…as you do.

“When they scored the equaliser, his assistant was giving it to us and he was called a ‘sh**house’ and whatever else. And his assistant manager then came over and spat at me.”

Van Dijk's header from a late corner saw Liverpool win their opening Champions League match of the season 3-2 at Anfield. They had led 2-0 thanks to goals inside the opening five minutes from Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, before Atleti hit back through two Marcos Llorente strikes.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Simeone accepted his reaction was unacceptable, but blamed the torrent of abuse coming from the stands behind him.

“(The referee told me) he understood me," he said. "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.

“I’m not really going to get into the exact nature of the insults. I don’t want to get involved in that. I have got to stay in my place, I know what went on behind the manager’s bench. I can’t solve society’s problem in one press conference. I have to live with it as it exists all over the place all of the time."

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