Abdullah Al-Haqim 
Argentine coach Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid coach, questioned the decision to cancel the penalty shootout recorded by his compatriot Julian Alvarez in the loss against the rival Real Madrid 2-4 on penalties (the original and additional time 0-1), on Wednesday in the second leg of the Champions League final.
The original time ended at the “Metropolitano” stadium with the victory of Atletico 1-0, scored by Connor Galaghar, 28 seconds after the start whistle.
But Real qualified was accompanied by a lot of controversy over the penalty shootout scored by Alvares, but he slipped during its implementation, as the referee canceled the goal after returning to the assistant video referee “AR” due to the presence of a double touch on the ball.
Destroy the accuracy pic.twitter.com/g9ogyseujv
Ibrahim (@Neygreat) March 13, 2025
Simeone told reporters: “The referee said that Julian touched the ball with his fixed foot when he carried out the kick, but the ball did not move.”
He added: “But far from that which only serves only controversy over whether or not it should be calculated, I am proud of my team’s players, I am really happy.”
“Why? Because we are competing in an ideal way. Yes, we could not beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, that is true, we could not, but they suffered a lot against us again.”
Simeone confirmed that he wanted to believe that the referees made the right decision regarding the penalty kick, saying: “I have never seen a penalty shootout called an iR to review it, but well, they may have seen that he touched it, I want to believe that, I want to believe that they saw that he touched it.”
“Let anyone raise his hand if he sees Julian touched the ball twice. Who will raise his hand? No one raises his hand.”
“I felt he touched twice.”
In turn, the Belgian goalkeeper, for Real Thipo Courtois, who tackled during the match for several dangerous attempts, said that he felt that Alvarez touched the ball twice while sliding.
He explained to the Mofestar channel: “In the end, it is just a matter of luck. I felt a little that he touched it twice, this is what I said to the ruling, it is clear that it is difficult to see this, but it was a misfortune for them.”
Courtois criticized Atletico’s protests, but at the same time he directed an indirect criticism of his club, who attacked Spanish arbitration in recent weeks, accusing him of “bias.”
He said: “I think UEFA (the European Union of the game) saw (a penalty shootout) clearly. I was tired of the victim’s role and crying always on such matters. The rulers do not want to help certain teams, neither Spain nor in Europe.”
He continued: “They saw the (penalty shootout) clearly, and for this reason they made their decision … they saw it via iR, they have a lot of corners and cameras.”
“I saw it”
The Real coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, also said that he believed the decision was true.
He added: “They discovered the matter, when we realized that there were doubts, they had resolved the matter through IR.”
He continued, “I saw her, I think he touched her with his left foot, a second touch.”
🤨 Carlo anceotti sobre El #UCL pic.twitter.com/6zvwlrngjj
