The UEFA Champions League's Round of 16 came to a conclusion this past week. Six of the eight ties ended at the blow of the whistle for full time. The other ties, between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Liverpool as well as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, ended with a penalty shootout. The latter match was the most talked about. Atletico Madrid's Julian Alavarez's scored his but it was immediately ruled out due to an apparent double touch. This has caused controversy and outrage.
After Alvarez took his penalty, Fede Valverde then made his way forward for Real Madrid but saw his spot-kick delayed as a VAR review was carried out. It was determined that Alvarez had touched the ball twice before converting his effort, with his standing foot making contact before hooking in with his right boot.
Initial replays of the incident were inconclusive, leading to the initial anger on Atletico's part but videos shot from behind the goal did show that Alvarez touched the ball with his left foot when trying to plant that and seeing it slide.
There were claims from some that a chip inside the ball had allowed the officials to make a huge call – with UEFA and FIFA using that technology at European Championship and World Cup events. That was, however, not the case on this occasion as the Champions League ball is not fitted with said chip.
There are 30 in-stadium cameras that are used in the semi-automated offside system and they may have helped to determine the, "kick-point" of Alvarez but journalist, Miguel Delaney, posted on social media: "UEFA saying it is just VAR - so using replays - to confirm double-touch on a penalty No sensors used, or other tech."
Atletico, who won 1-0 on the night after seeing Conor Gallagher score inside the opening minute and Vinicius Junior sky a penalty of his own during normal time, suffered a 4-2 defeat in the shootout - allowing Real to march on into the Champions League quarter-finals and a meeting with Premier League giants, Arsenal.
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 results:
- PSG defeated Liverpool, 4-1 on penalties, after a two-legged aggregate score 1-1.
- Aston Villa defeated Club Brugge, 6-1, on aggregate.
- Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid, 4-2 on penalties, after a two-legged aggregate score 1-1.
- Arsenal defeated PSV Eindhoven, 9-3, on aggregate.
- Barcelona defeated Benfica, 4-1, on aggregate.
- Borussia Dortmund defeated Lille, 3-2, on aggregate.
- Bayern Munich defeated Bayer Leverkusen, 5-0, on aggregate.
- Inter Milan defeated Feyenoord, 4-1, on aggregate.
Atletico Madrid manager, Diego Simeone, has urged people to not be, "afraid" of questioning the decision to rule out Julian Alvarez's penalty during the shootout defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
It was a decision that Simeone disagreed with, after questioning whether or not there was clear evidence to suggest Alvarez had made contact with the ball twice. He said in his post-match press conference: "Did you guys see it? Did you see it? Did he or didn't he touch the ball?"
"Don't be afraid to speak. Are you afraid because you're going to be punished? If you're afraid, don't say anything. Raise your hand if you think Julian knocked twice. No one? No one. Okay. Honestly, I won't lie to you, being eliminated the way we've been is not an easy thing to accept."
Simeone continued: "I just saw the image of the penalty. The referee said that when Julian stepped and kicked, he touched the ball with his foot, but the ball didn't move. That's something to discuss about whether it was a goal or not, but I'm proud of my players."
"When he plants his foot and kicks, the ball doesn't move even a little bit. But if VAR called it, I've never seen a penalty called by VAR, but it's still valid and they'll have seen that he touched it. I want to believe they'll have seen that he touched it."
Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, also commented on the shootout, which came after his side lost 1-0 in the second leg to make it 2-2 on aggregate, where he agreed with the decision to rule the penalty out.
"I think they had detected it already at the VAR when we were hesitating. We haven't warned them, not me at least because I didn't realise. I've seen the replay and I think he touches it with his left foot, the second touch."
Atletico's Marcos Llorente, as well as Lucas Vazquez for the opposing side in Madrid, went on to also miss but it was Antonio Rudiger's shot that squeezed past the hands of goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, to fire his side into the quarter-finals.
Speaking after the game, Oblak revealed the referee's decision must be, "respected" but highlighted how much of a, "pity" it was to bow out of Europe's elite competition in this manner. "The decisions of the referee must be respected. I haven't seen it but it's probably true," he said.
"It's such a pity anyway because [Thibaut] Courtois has gone to the opposite side and the ball would have gone in anyway, but this is football and this is how unlucky we've been."
His counterpart and former Atletico player, Thibaut Courtois, who claimed he advised referee Szymon Marciniak to review the penalty after it went in, was less sympathetic after the game having stated it was, "bad luck" for their rivals.
He 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 for them there. With the technology, in the VAR room they saw it clearly, they have a lot of cameras and a lot of images."
Atletico defender, Clement Lenglet, didn't take a penalty in the shootout after being substituted in the 91st minute for Robin Le Normand. After watching on from the sidelines, the 29-year-old explained he had, "never seen" a decision like this in football but like Oblak, he respected the referees choice.
"We haven't seen the replay but what's happened is easy to understand," Lenglet said. "This is the first time I see a referee whistling this kind of thing. But if it's the rules we need to respect it. But it's not funny because we have scored 4 penalties, the same as them, so in the end this is a tie."
In the images, you can clearly see how the left foot drags due to the slip and what is crystal clear is that it doesn't graze the ball once it shoots with the right foot. In any case, either in the VAR they had a better image than this - something that does not seem likely - or the referee of the match, the Polish Marciniak was very poorly advised from the VAR room.
There is no image that clarifies absolutely anything why they should not have intervened in such a decisive action.
Spanish media, AS, has said, It just so happens that Szymon Marciniak experienced this same situation, but it hardly had any repercussions: it was in the final of the 2022 World Cup, in which Argentina was proclaimed world champions by defeating France in the penalty shootout.
The first goal of the match was scored by Messi from the penalty spot. The Argentine executed his shot and, if you look closely at the play, the ball passes and touches his right foot. Marciniak conceded the goal....
UEFA said they will, "enter discussions with FIFA and IFAB" over a possible change to the rule that saw Julián Álvarez's penalty disallowed in Atlético Madrid's Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Along with the statement, UEFA released frame-by-frame footage on Thursday that appeared to show "minimal" contact with the ball by Alvarez's standing leg.
"Atlético de Madrid enquired with UEFA over the incident, which led to the disallowance of the kick from the penalty mark taken by Julián Alvarez at the end of yesterday's UEFA Champions League match against Real Madrid," UEFA said.
"Although minimal, the player made contact with the ball using his standing foot before kicking it, as shown in the attached video clip. Under the current rule (Laws of the Game, Law 14.1), the VAR had to call the referee signalling that the goal should be disallowed."
"UEFA will enter discussions with FIFA and IFAB to determine whether the rule should be reviewed in cases where a double touch is clearly unintentional."
IFAB is the International Football Association Board, a body that is responsible for the laws of the game and any proposed changes.
The Álvarez incident led to confusion inside the stadium on Wednesday, with many present initially unaware that the spot kick had been disallowed, and then post-match protests by Atlético, led by Simeone.
UEFA Champions League Quater-Final fixtures:
- PSG vs. Aston Villa
- Arsenal vs. Real Madrid
- Barcelona vs. Borussia Dortmund
- Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan
The first legs will be played on 8/9 April. The second legs will be played on 15/16 April.
I have to agree with the disallowed penalty. I've seen footage and looks like to me that Alvarez did indeed touch the ball twice. I am under the belief that the Real Madrid side are being a bit biased. Since they won, there won't be any moaning and they will fully back every decision made.
There does seem to be confusion. As such, I condone the decision to review the rules. There shouldn't be any confusion. Rules should be clear and clear-cut.