Barcelona defender Inigo Martinez has responded to claims he spat at Inter Milan’s Francesco Acerbi during their epic Champions League clash on Tuesday night.
In the closing stages of the first half, Hakan Calhanoglu fired home a penalty to put Inter 2-0 up on the night and 5-3 ahead on aggregate, sparking jubilant scenes at San Siro.
Acerbi was seen celebrating wildly as he ran past Martinez to celebrate with his team-mates, and TV cameras appeared to show Martinez reacting by spitting towards his opponent.
Acerbi was incensed and confronted Martinez and several other Barcelona players, while also telling the referee about what happened, but the incident was cleared by VAR following a review.
Martinez has now spoken out and conceded he was angered by Acerbi’s behaviour after the goal, but denied he intentionally spat in his direction.
‘Acerbi celebrated the goal in my ear, I got angry, but the spit was not aimed towards him,’ Martinez told reporters after the game.
Inigo Martinez appeared to spit on Francesco Acerbi after Inter Milan’s second goal on Tuesday
Acerbi was furious and confronted Martinez and his Barcelona team-mates
Martinez has admitted he was angered by Acerbi’s celebration but claims he did not spit at him
‘Otherwise, I would have been sent off.’
Martinez escaped punishment for the incident with Acerbi, but was booked six minutes into the second half.
Meanwhile, Acerbi’s night was only just getting started as he would go on to pop up in the 93rd minute to take the game to extra time after Barcelona had scored three unanswered goals earlier in the second half.
Davide Frattesi then came off the bench to score the tie-clinching goal in the ninth minute of extra time as Inter sealed a 7-6 aggregate win to reach the Champions League final.
They will now play PSG or Arsenal in the showpiece event at Munich’s Allianz Arena later this month.
In the meantime, Martinez must now wait to discover whether he will face any retrospective action for his alleged spit towards Acerbi.
Discussing the potential incident after the final whistle on Tuesday night, Wayne Rooney on Amazon Prime stressed that if Martinez was found to have spat on his rival, UEFA would be quick to intervene.
‘You certainly don’t want to see that in a football game or anywhere,’ the Manchester United legend said. ‘If he has spat, then he’ll get a punishment that he’ll deserve.’
Acerbi had the last laugh as he scored the goal that took the tie to extra time before Inter went on to reach the Champions League final
Co-pundit Daniel Sturridge added: ‘Absolutely right. If he’s done that, then it’s not good – it’s not necessary, it’s not needed.
‘We’ll let the people do their job and see if he’s actually done it.’
