Atletico Madrid leader Diego Simon said he “wanted to believe” that Var saw Julian Alvarez touching the ball twice in his dramatic penalty shoot -out last night, Real Madrid’s defeat in the Champions League.
Alvarez was thought to have kicked the ball on his permanent leg and the spot was excluded, although it was not immediately clear from the repetitions.
A closer look at this sentence than Julián Alvarez 😱 pic.twitter.com/hdyuq0teoe
– Football at TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 13 2025
With Marcos Llorente also missing Atletico, as well as Lucas Vazquez for Madrid, left Antonio Rudiger compressing Jan Oblak’s victory to send Carlo Ancelotti’s men to a fourth meeting with Arsenal.
Simeone Questions Decision
It was Alvarez’s sentence that dominated the after -race conversation, and Simeone was not convinced that he was the right call.
“I’ve seen the pictures, the referee says Julián touches the ball with his supporting leg, but the ball is not moving,” he said. “This is questionable, whether it was a target or not. But I’m proud of my players, I’m honestly happy because we fought in an exemplary way.
“When Julián kicks (the penalty), the ball doesn’t move a little. I imagine they called Var and saw that he touched it. I want to believe they would have seen he touched it.”
Atleti won 1-0 at night thanks to Conor Gallagher’s goal in the first minute But they were unable to find a second during a game high in energy but low quality.
“Are you afraid why you will be punished?” 🤐
Diego Simeone reacts to Drama Julian Alvarez after Atletico Madrid’s Champions League exit.
UEFA2025 pic.twitter.com/2sndlksuze
– Sky Sports News (@skysportsnews) March 13 2025
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believed that the right decision on Alvarez’s spot had been made and both he and his teammates were quick to make their spot to referee Szymon Marciniak.
“I felt he touched the ball twice and told the referee,” the Belgian said. “It’s not easy to see that.”
He was not impressed, however, by Simeone to challenge VAR’s integrity.
“For UEFA, it’s clear. I am sick of this victim, I always cry for such things. The referees do not want to benefit a team or the other in Spain or in Europe, for them it was clear. With technology, in the VAR room they saw it clearly, they have many cameras and many cameras.”
