Controversial VAR Call Costs Atlético in UCL Penalty Shootout

A controversial call has the world of football talking. In a clash between rivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, the latter lost in penalties following a rare ruling.

On Wednesday, the two Spanish heavyweights met in the second leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie. A 2-1 win at home gave Madrid the advantage heading into the second match, but Atlético forced extra time with a 1-0 win at the Metropolitano. Conor Gallagher’s goal in the first minute of action was followed by 119 minutes of goalless action.

Following 30 minutes of extra time, a shootout would determine who would advance to face Arsenal in the quarterfinals. Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham converted Madrid’s first two penalties. After Alexander Sørloth converted Atlético’s first attempt, Argentinian attacker Julián Álvarez stepped up to level the score. The former Manchester City man appeared to hit a cracker into the net, only for Madrid players to immediately question the legality of the kick.

Following a VAR review, the penalty was ruled out by the referee. Álvarez slipped while planting his left leg and VAR determined that his left foot slightly touched the ball before he kicked it with his right foot — making it two touches and invalidating the shot. However, every replay made available to the public, during and after the match, fails to clearly show Álvarez’s left foot touching the ball. As a result, Atlético players and manager Diego Simeone were left fuming.

“When Julián kicks [the penalty], the ball doesn’t even move a bit,” Simeone said. “I imagine that they called the VAR and saw that he touched it. I want to believe that they’ll have seen that he touched it.”

“I’ve just seen the images, the referee says Julián touches the ball with his supporting leg, but the ball doesn’t move,” Simeone said in his post-match press conference. “That’s debatable, whether it was a goal or not. But I’m proud of my players, I’m honestly happy, because we competed in an exemplary way.”

Following the disallowed penalty, Fede Valverde found the back of the net for Madrid to give the club a 3-1 advantage. Ángel Correa kept the hosts alive by putting his shot into the back of the net. Then, Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vázquez’s attempt — setting up Marcos Llorente to tie the shootout at 3-3. Llorente hammered his shot straight into the crossbar, putting Atlético on the brink of elimination. Madrid stalwart Antonio Rüdiger nearly had his ensuing pen saved by Oblak, but the ball bounced into the net following a deflection to put Madrid through to the next round.

In the aftermath of the controversial win, Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said, “I felt that he touched the ball twice and I told the referee…It’s not easy to see that. It was a bit of bad luck.”

Told of Simeone’s comments, the legendary keeper added: “For UEFA, it’s clear. I’m sick of this victimhood, always crying about things like this. Referees don’t want to benefit one team or another in Spain or in Europe, for them it was clear. With the technology, in the VAR room they saw it clearly, they have a lot of cameras and a lot of images.”

The first leg of Real’s QF tilt with Arsenal will take place on April 8 at Emirates Stadium in London. Madrid will host the return leg on April 16.