Diego Simeone was furious as Real Madrid advanced in the Champions League at the expense of their city rivals after penalty shootout
07:41, 13 Mar 2025
Julian Alvarez takes his spot kick for Atletico Madrid. Picture credit: CBS Golazo
Julian Alvarez takes his spot kick for Atletico Madrid. Picture credit: CBS Golazo
Atletico Madrid have blasted referees and VAR after a little-known penalty rule torpedoed their Champions League hopes against Real Madrid.
Ex-Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher gave Atleti a 1-0 win at the Metropolitano in the lasy-16 second leg. The pulsating Madrid derby ended 2-2 on aggregate and went to penalties after 120 minutes. Diego Simeone's side thought they had levelled up the shootout to 2-2 when former Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez fired his effort home. He managed to direct it on target despite slipping on connection.
However, VAR intervened, enraging thousands of the home support who were unsure what was going on. Szymon Marciniak indicated the penalty was controversially disallowed after Alvarez was judged to to have hit the ball off his standing foot after he initially kicked it. Two touches are not allowed during a spot kick.
Thierry Henry gave his verdict
Thierry Henry gave his verdict
It gave Real Madrid a massive advantage in the shootout as Antonio Rudiger scored the winning spot kick to set up a quarter-final tie with Arsenal. Diego Simeone was raging at full time, arguing there was no double touch. He pleaded: “To anyone here: raise your hand if you saw that Julián touched the ball twice in the penalty. Come on! And? Ready? Nobody raises theirs. Another question. I’ve never seen VAR call to review a penalty in a shootout”.
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Acting as a pundit for CBS, former Barcelona striker Thierry Henry simply said: "If he did touch it twice - that is the rules."
Micah Richards chimed in with a different take. He argued: "I still don't like to see it though. I'm not convinced. It still wasn't conclusive he had a double touch on the angles we say saw, so."