There was no shortage of drama in this one, with tempers flaring repeatedly between Manchester City and Porto on Tuesday night.

The trouble began in the first half after a foul by Marc Guehi on Gabri Veiga. During an aerial duel, the Manchester City player caught his opponent on the head with his arm, leaving Veiga on the turf and bleeding. The home side appealed for a dismissal, but the referee chose not to show either a yellow card or a red card.

The players were still angry as they headed in at half-time. According to reports in the English media, that led to a confrontation in the tunnel as both sides made their way back to the dressing rooms. City goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli was reportedly shoved by Porto officials. Ruben Dias is also said to have pushed head coach Francesco Farioli afterwards. “Security staff from both teams had to intervene to separate players and staff from both sides as they entered the tunnel,” Amazon Prime reporter Gabriel Clarke said.

Reports from inside the stadium claimed the tunnel could even be seen “shaking” during the altercation between the two teams, according to English newspaper The Sun.

When Enzo Maresca was asked after the match about the tunnel incident involving Dias, the coach made it clear he was frustrated: “How many times did you see me or my bench get up? Zero times in 95 minutes. How many times did you see their bench?...”

That, however, was not the final flashpoint of the evening. Just before full-time, Erling Haaland and Pablo Rosario were involved in a clash on the pitch.

Haaland was hauled to the ground by Rosario, and teammates had to step in to separate the pair. Referee Szymon Marciniak then booked both players with yellow cards.

Adrian Durham, a reporter for English radio station talkSPORT, was highly critical of Marciniak’s handling of the episode. “Really naive from the referee,” he said on air. “Rosario is basically just trying to get Haaland sent off, and that’s a disgrace. A really weak refereeing performance.”

Haaland did not address the altercation after the final whistle, but he struck a realistic tone while speaking to the club’s own media. “We knew it was going to be a hard battle. Under that huge pressure, we had to deliver on the biggest stage, and we did that today.”

The striker still had plenty to celebrate. As well as being named Man of the Match and scoring both goals in the 2-0 victory, he also drew level with a club great. The Norwegian has now scored as many Champions League goals for Manchester City as Sergio Aguero, with 36. He now needs only one more to move ahead of the Argentine.

In the all-time Champions League scoring list, Haaland also moved above Thomas Muller and is now seventh overall with 59 goals. Particularly striking is his rate of exactly one goal per game. By comparison, Lionel Messi required 80 appearances in the competition to reach 60 goals.