UEFA Responds to Atlético with Video of Unfortunate Slip

Atlético sought explanations from UEFA regarding the penalty annulled against Julián Álvarez during the shootout that granted Real Madrid a spot in the Champions League quarter-finals. The European governing body responded on Thursday to the red-and-white club with a video of the unfortunate slip and a statement asserting that, although the striker's contact with his supporting foot was 'minimal', the Argentine touched the ball twice. With an image not available on the television broadcast, captured by one of UEFA's cameras from one of the ends of the Metropolitano, albeit not crystal clear, the continental body aimed to settle the controversy stirred by the penalty invalidated by VAR.

"Under the current rule, VAR had to alert the referee to indicate that the goal should be annulled," UEFA recalled, while announcing that it will now study with FIFA and the International Board (IFAB) the annulment of this unfair rule that was decisive for Atlético's elimination in the penalty shootout. "UEFA will engage in discussions with FIFA and IFAB to determine if the rule should be revised in cases where a double touch is clearly unintentional," stated the brief communiqué from the body presided over by Aleksander Ceferin.

Early in the morning, Atlético contacted UEFA, demanding an official stance, arguing that the penalty scored by Julián Álvarez should not have been annulled, "as it did not comply with the International Board's rule 14," which stipulates that during a penalty kick, "the ball is in play the moment it is struck and moves clearly." Atlético also complained that the VAR officials decided on the action in just one minute, when no clear image was available before Julián Álvarez struck the ball.

"I didn't feel I touched the ball," assured the Argentine striker to his teammates in the Metropolitano locker room after the world champion spent Thursday night becoming part of Atlético de Madrid's infamous and endless 'Pupas' legend. "Hands up," headlined the Olé newspaper on its front page this Friday. "Simeone asked for a show of hands from anyone who saw Julián's double touch on the penalty annulled by VAR, and no one did: once again, that's how Madrid wins," proclaimed the Argentine sports newspaper on its front page alongside a photograph of the red-and-white striker at the moment his right leg struck the ball.

The fact is that Atlético continues to curse its bad luck, especially in the Champions League and against its eternal rival, which for the third consecutive time overcame the colchonero team in a penalty shootout. It was Thibaut Courtois who alerted Polish referee Szymon Marciniak that Julián Álvarez might have touched the ball twice. "I felt Julián double-touched, and I told the referee," revealed the Belgian Real Madrid goalkeeper, who lashed out at Diego Pablo Simeone following the resolution of an unprecedented penalty shootout that once again proved cruel for Atlético.

"I'm tired of this victimhood and always crying over things like this. If you're leading 1-0 in the first minute and then don't try to score the second, I think that's where their game went wrong," Courtois said to the Argentine Atlético coach, highlighting what could have been the real key to Atlético's elimination instead of a possible resolution of the tie in regular time.