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Huge Drama unfolded as eternal rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid squared off in leg 2 of the round of 16 encounter of the Champions League on Wednesday at the Wanda Metrepolitan. The game went down to the wire till the penalties, where a spot kick taken by Julian Alvarez became a bearer of massive controversy. Though Alvarez was able to breach through Thibaut Courtois, following the intervention of VAR it was found that Alvarez connected with his right foot and the ball struck his left leg for a double kick. The act went against the rules and hence Argentine's penalty kick was ruled out, giving impetus to Real Madrid, who eventually won the shootout and progressed to the quarterfinal stage of the competition.
Real Madrid Beat Atletico Madrid on Penalties
Real Madrid's slender one-goal lead was cut out by the hosts in the first minute of the match. Conor Gallagher scored the goal for Atleti which brought the aggregate to 2-2. After that, a tenuous play began where neither team could crack other's defense. Barring the play that fetched Real Madrid a penalty, which was missed by Vinicius, the defending champions looked out of ideas. Atletico Madrid also could not extend the lead. Therefore, after 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time, the scoreline held still at 1-0, which left the aggregate total at 2-2. Penalties came in as the means to break the tie, and the Los Blancos once again prevailed in the aspect against their city rivals. Miss from Marcos Llorente and ruling out of Alvarez's successful take proved to be vital and led to Real's 4-2 victory on penalties.
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Diego Simeone On Julian Alvarez's Penalty Controversy
Following the culmination of the game, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone paid heed to the elephant in the room and hinted that his side was wronged by the Video Assistant Referee.
"I just saw the image of the penalty,’ Simeone said. ‘The referee said that when Julián 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."
Asked if he was ‘sure’ about his view on Alvarez’s double kick, Simeone added: ‘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."
Quizzed if he had spoken to Alvarez about the double kick, Simeone said: ‘What did you see? Raise your hand if you think Julian knocked twice. I didn’t speak to him.’
"People are leaving with the pain of being eliminated, without a doubt," Simeone continued.
"We all wanted to play in the final, but knowing that their team gave it their all. There are two ways to go to sleep: one, saying how badly we played, we didn’t do what we had to do; and the other is saying that we gave everything.
"This team gave everything and deserved the applause the fans gave us in return. The fans were there yesterday, they were there today. It was a very beautiful day. We [don’t get to] continue [in the Champions League], but I’m leaving in peace."
