Complaining about Neymar diving is bringing Madrid clubs together

Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid aren’t known for seeing eye-to-eye, but they can agree on one thing following the former’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona on Tuesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League tie.

Neymar’s really ticking them off.

This has little to do with the Barcelona player’s goal, rather his theatrics. Less than a fortnight after drawing a penalty in a thrilling El Clasico, Neymar has drawn the ire of intense Atletico boss Diego Simeone.

Simeone combined shots at two Barca players during his post-match press conference. From Goal.com on Neymar:

“Diving is his characteristic, like Alexis Sanchez did when I coached him at River Plate,” he told Sky Sport. “This part of his game lets him down.”

Here are the comments from Real’s Ramos after his red card against Barca:

“In my sending off Neymar was offside beforehand and I didn’t touch him. He was looking for contact. If they wanted to balance the league table, they’ve done it.”

The diving criticism is nothing new for Neymar, even Pele has reached out to the youngster in the past. But at least we can agree that the Brazilian Barca striker is bringing the rival sides of Madrid together in a common goal: detestation of his tactics.

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