UEFA released a statement on Thursday regarding World Cup-winning Argentina international Julian Alvarez’s ‘double’ penalty kick during Atletico Madrid’s defeat to Real Madrid in the return leg of the Champions League last 16 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Atletico took the match to the penalties after beating their Spanish league opponent 1-0 at home. Midfielder Conor Gallagher’s first-minute goal restored parity on aggregate, as neither side managed to find the upper hand in the remaining 119 minutes of the match, thus forcing the tie-break. Real Madrid prevailed in the shootout, winning 4-2 to reach the quarterfinal.
However, the thrilling Madrid derby was marred by controversy after Alvarez’s penalty was disallowed after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check. The Argentine, who took the second penalty for Atletico, slipped while taking the kick but eventually beat Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to level the score.
However, the goal was disallowed. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak referred it to VAR as the replay of the incident showed that his standing foot had made contact with the ball before hooking it with the right foot.
Several angles emerged after the match, showing that the VAR call was indeed right. Yet, Atletico fans argued over the decision, which led to the defeat and eventually halted their progression in the Champions League.
Amid the furore on social media, UEFA released a statement explaining how the VAR check concluded it was a ‘double kick’. The venue had 30 in-stadium cameras, and they may have helped in determining the point of contact of Alvarez’s kick, but Miguel Delaney posted on social media: “UEFA saying it is just VAR – so using replays – to confirm double-touch on a penalty No sensors used, or other tech”.
Atletico boss Diego Simeone was not happy with the decision; however, he did not criticise it during his post-match conference.
He said: “I just saw the image of the penalty. The referee said that, when Julian stepped and kicked, he touched the ball with his foot. But the ball didn’t move.
“That’s something to discuss about whether it was a goal or not, but I’m proud of my players.
“When he plants his foot and kicks, the ball doesn’t move, even a little bit. But if VAR called it, I’ve never seen a penalty called by VAR, but it’s still valid, and they’ll have seen that he touched it. I want to believe they’ll have seen that he touched it.”
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