Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone stated he “needed to imagine” the VAR noticed Julian Alvarez contact the ball twice in final night time’s dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat to Actual Madrid within the Champions League.
Alvarez was deemed to have kicked the ball on to his standing foot and the spot-kick was dominated out, though it wasn’t instantly clear from the replays.
A better have a look at THAT penalty from Julián Alvarez 😱 pic.twitter.com/HdyUQ0TeOE
— Soccer on TNT Sports activities (@footballontnt) March 13, 2025
With Marcos Llorente additionally lacking for Atletico, in addition to Lucas Vazquez for Madrid, it was left to Antonio Rudiger to squeeze the successful penalty previous Jan Oblak to ship Carlo Ancelotti’s males via to a quarter-final assembly with Arsenal.
Simeone questions resolution
It was Alvarez’s penalty that dominated the post-match dialog and Simeone was not satisfied it was the correct name.
“I’ve simply seen the photographs, the referee says Julián touches the ball along with his supporting leg, however the ball doesn’t transfer,” he stated. “That’s debatable, whether or not it was a aim or not. However I’m happy with my gamers, I’m truthfully blissful, as a result of we competed in an exemplary manner.
“When Julián kicks [the penalty], the ball doesn’t even transfer a bit. I think about that they known as the VAR and noticed that he touched it. I wish to imagine that they’ll have seen that he touched it.”
Atleti received 1-0 on the night time because of Conor Gallagher’s aim within the opening minute however had been unable to discover a second throughout a recreation excessive in power however low in high quality.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois thought the correct resolution had been made concerning Alvarez’s spot-kick and each he and his team-mates had been fast to make their level to on-field referee Szymon Marciniak.
“I felt that he touched the ball twice and I advised the referee,” the Belgian stated. “It’s not straightforward to see that.”
He was unimpressed, nevertheless, by Simeone questioning the integrity of the VAR.
“For UEFA, it’s clear. I’m sick of this victimhood, all the time crying about issues like this. Referees don’t wish to profit one crew or one other in Spain or in Europe, for them it was clear. With the know-how, within the VAR room they noticed it clearly, they’ve plenty of cameras and plenty of photographs.”