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Aston Villa and Manchester City's players and coaching teams clashed as Villa Park serenaded both sides with chants of "You cheating b*******." Unai Emery's outfit became the first team in the division to defeat Enzo Maresca's title-chasing side this season. A brace from Nicolas Jackson, either side of a header from Erling Haaland, brought City's 100 per cent winning start to the Premier League campaign to an end.
As the final moments of the match wound down, Emiliano Buendia collected a yellow card for repeatedly fouling City substitute Rico Lewis. As the referee produced the yellow card for Buendia, a member of Villa's backroom staff grabbed the ball and declined to return it to the City players.
This prompted Maresca to step out of his technical area and confront the Villa coach, sparking others from both benches to become involved.
City captain Ruben Dias also joined in the fracas as the referee had to step in and calm tempers down, before blowing the full-time whistle shortly after.
Lewis had to be dragged away, but no further punishment was issued on a chaotic day in the Midlands, with a frantic affair going the home side's way, as Villa beat the league leaders for the fourth year in a row.
Dias spoke shortly after and admitted that his side "fought a lot" in what he described as a "frustrating" defeat.
"First 10-15 minutes of the first half we took our time to get into the game," he told TNT Sports. "They changed the way they set up so we took time to adapt. But we fought, we had chances and they ended up scoring two goals in two transitions - very efficient. Room to improve, we need to do better.
"It is what it is. Whatever happens we need to react to it. The team had a very good reaction. The second one was tough because it was very close to our equaliser. We kept going and tried to create chances. Not our day but we keep moving forward.
"I felt like we were dangerous on many occasions, even if the finish wasn't there we arrived in dangerous places but not able to play. A word of appreciation to the boys because we kept fighting to the end."
Both of Villa's goals resulted from individual mistakes by Marc Guehi and Giorgio Donnarumma, with Maresca claiming that his side played well despite their first loss of the campaign.
"It was a good game, good performance but unfortunately we lost," he told Match of the Day. "I think we did enough to get something more. We learn and move on.
"We struggled the first 10-15 minutes because we expected them one way, but they were different. We adjusted then controlled the game."
Maresca substituted struggling Guehi at half-time, as was Rayan Cherki, with the head coach claiming that he made the decision because both players were at risk of being sent off.
"They were both on yellow cards, with this noise sometimes better to avoid," Maresca added. "I think overall we did enough to take something from this game.
"When we scored I had the feeling that we were in control and really for the entire game. We created many chances but unfortunately didn't score them. We conceded one transition in the second half and they were very efficient because they scored. Bit unlucky and we learn from that.
"I was not here in the past but today I think we deserved something more."
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