Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone lashed out at fans throwing objects onto the pitch during the Madrid derby, forcing a temporary stoppage of play. At the same time, he urged players who “provoke” fans to “be careful.”

Sunday’s La Liga match was suspended midway through the second half after fans repeatedly threw objects – including lighters and plastic bottles – behind one of the Metropolitano’s goals.

Éder Militão had given visitors Real Madrid a 1-0 lead in the 64th minute and later, after play resumed after a 20-minute delay, Ángel Correa equalized in the 96th minute before Marcos Llorente scored Atlético was sent off.

Simeone suspected that Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was partly responsible for the fans’ actions, for his celebration after Militão’s goal.

“We all have to help,” Simeone told DAZN. “Obviously it’s not right for fans to throw lighters – like what happened at the Bernabeu when Courtois was our player and was hit in the head with a lighter. But we protagonists don’t help if we provoke the fans.” and the fans get angry.

“(Throwing things) is wrong, it’s not right, but we have to stay calm and understand the situation, know how to celebrate a goal without looking at the stands, with these gestures.”

When referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer first stopped the game, messages over the stadium’s loudspeakers warned fans to stop, and Simeone and captain Koke went to speak to them and urge them to calm down.

“The message was to think about the club, about your own team,” Simeone said later. “They don’t help the team. They said it wasn’t their fault, they said they were provoked by the opposing goalkeeper.”

As more objects were thrown, the referee called the two teams off the field and announced that the game would initially be stopped for 10 minutes, which was later extended to 15 minutes.

“The club will take the decisions it needs to make together with the fans who perpetrated these incidents,” Simeone said in his post-match press conference. “We don’t need these fans in the stands, we need the fans who support us and think about the team and the club.”

“That doesn’t justify it, but we as protagonists can also help ensure that people don’t react that way. That doesn’t justify it, but be careful what we do, myself included.”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti praised the referee’s decision to stop the game.

“I think it was the right decision,” he said. “It was right. Nobody likes to stop the game, everyone wanted to play, but I think the referee did a good job.”

Ancelotti also confirmed that Courtois would undergo tests on Monday for a muscle injury he sustained towards the end of the game.

A source told ESPN that the goalie feared he had suffered a small muscle tear.

Atleti also released a statement after the game: “From the moment objects were thrown, the club’s security department has been working with the police to locate those involved and one of them has already been identified. … Having these attitudes.” “That has no place in football and damages the image of a stadium that experienced a spectacular atmosphere with more than 70,000 fans in the stands, most of whom behaved in an exemplary manner.”

The disruption came a day after the Spanish league said it would ask police to take action against the organizers of a social media campaign that the league said was aimed at encouraging racist acts against Vinícius at the derby.

The social media campaign was based on a hashtag that urged Atlético fans to wear face masks, apparently to make it harder for authorities to identify people engaging in racist chants or insults.