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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Rich Jones

Jack Grealish 'waited in tunnel' to confront Southampton rival after ill-tempered clash

Jack Grealish was left furious with Oriel Romeu after Manchester City’s frustrating draw with Southampton.

Grealish and Romeu clashed after a tackle by the midfielder during the second half as he endured a tough evening at St Mary’s.

The Spaniard appeared to direct words at Grealish when he went down holding his ankle before the £100m man jumped up and shoved his opponent before being pulled away.

After the game, Saints boss Ralph Hasenhüttl revealed the England star waited for his opponent to make his feelings known at full-time.

The Austrian manager insisted, however, that the pair kissed and made up and the issue was resolved.

What did you make of Jack Grealish's performance vs Southampton? Have your say in the comments section!

Oriel Romeu and Jack Grealish clashed after a tackle on the Man City ace in the second half (Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)

Hasenhüttl told Sky Sports after the game: “They had a discussion with Ori, because Grealish was waiting for him in the tunnel because of a few things that happened outside on the pitch that was not right.

“But it’s not here for the cameras, they spoke about it, everything’s good.”

Despite dropping two points, City manager Pep Guardiola praised his side for an “exceptional” display.

He told BBC's Match of the Day: "It was a good entertaining game and we make an exceptional performance.

Grealish jumped up and shoved Romeu after not taking kindly the Southampton ace (Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)

"Before the goal we started well with good build up, and the last 25 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second half was brilliant. We would love to score more and win but in the end we are happy with the performance.

"They defend well and are incredible on the counter-attack but I thought we passed really well. Armando Broja and Che Adams are so strong and it is not easy to contain them, but we did it.

"The result is the result, but the performance is much better than at Arsenal, for example, where we won. The last games we played against Southampton over the last two or three seasons, this was our best performance. I can see they are happy with the points and congratulations to them, they played a great game.

The pair were pulled apart and later had words in the tunnel after the game (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

"I feel as a manager confident for the future with the way we are behaving. Without the ball, everybody helps each other. I know how difficult this stadium is, with the way they play and we are happy.

"I don't understand the way people say that now, after this result, the race is open, when before it is over. But this is your job to talk about that. I would love to be 40 points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, but that's impossible. I would never expect to be in this position, with this margin.

"Today we showed the same consistency we have been showing. If people saw in the game that we were lazy or arrogant or trying not to win the game, I would be worried, but for me I see the opposite."

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