The press conference that Diego Simeone held in response to Atletico Madrid’s controversial elimination from the Champions League left everyone in the room speechless.
On Wednesday evening, Atletico Madrid’s dream of competing in the Champions League was turned into a terrible nightmare when they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Real Madrid in a shootout. Real Madrid is their rivals from across town.
The goal scored by Conor Gallagher in the very first minute of the match was sufficient to tie the match on aggregate and determine the outcome of the match, which was decided by penalties.
A moment that caused a great deal of controversy occurred during the shootout when the video assistant referee (VAR) decided that Julian Alvarez’s kick should be disallowed because it was determined that he had made contact with the ball twice.
Following the conclusion of the shootout, Real advanced to the next round after claiming a 4-2 victory. Antonio Rudiger scored the game-winning penalty kick.
There have been multiple perspectives of the incident that have been shared on social media since then, and some of them show Alvarez’s standing foot making the slightest of touches.
When Simeone was asked to comment on the incident during his press conference following the match, he declined the request.
The entire room is left speechless as Diego Simeone finally breaks his silence regarding the controversial penalty that Julian Alvarez received.
Nevertheless, in a manner that was characteristic of Simeone, he reversed the focus of attention to the reporters and asked, “If anyone from this area has witnessed Julian touching the ball twice, please raise your hand.” Don’t you think so? Is there no one? You can view the video that is provided below.
Simeone continued by saying, “I just observed the picture of the penalty.” As Julián stepped and kicked, the referee stated that he made contact with the ball with his foot; however, the ball did not move in response to his action.
“That’s something to discuss about whether it was a goal or not, but I’m proud of my players.”
He went on to say, “When he plants his foot and kicks, the ball does not move with even the slightest amount of movement.”
In the event that the video assistant referee (VAR) called it, I have never witnessed a VAR call a penalty, but it is still valid, and they will have seen that he touched it. I have a strong desire to believe that they will have noticed that he touched it.
Over the course of this weekend, Atletico Madrid will return to action in the La Liga competition when they face Barcelona at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Sunday evening.
