Atletico Madrid boss, Diego Simeone has expressed shock over video assistant referee’s decision that contributed to his team’s elimination from the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Julian Alvarez’s penalty was ruled out by VAR during the shootout against Real Madrid.
It was a major turning point, and Real Madrid went on to claim a 4-2 win over their rivals.
Alvarez took the fourth kick of the shootout for Atletico Madrid after all of Kylian Mbappe, Alexander Sorloth, and Jude Bellingham had scored theirs.
He appeared to slip just before he hit the ball, but managed to fire an effort into the roof of the net.
Federico Valverde stepped up to take the next kick for Real Madrid, but the shootout was paused as the VAR reviewed Alvarez’s effort.
VAR examined the situation and observed that the player’s standing foot had slightly hit the ball as he slipped, before he took the shot.
As a result, his penalty was adjudged a double kick by the referee.
Addressing reporters after the game, Simeone said he had never seen a thing like that before, insisting the player touched the ball only but once.
Simeone said, “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”.
Los Blancos went ahead to beat their city rivals 4-2 win and progressed to the quarterfinals of the competition, where Arsenal await them next in April.