UEFA is to speak to FIFA and IFAB to determine whether the rule that saw Julian Alvarez’s penalty against Real Madrid disallowed should be reviewed.
The incident has caused much debate and partly resulted in Atletico Madrid crashing out of the Champions League on penalties.
Argentina striker Alvarez was adjudged to have kicked the ball twice – essentially kicking it into his standing foot – which is in breach of law 14.1.
Referee Szymon Marciniak was informed as to what had happened by the VAR and the penalty was chalked off. Real Madrid went on to win the shoot-out 4-2 to progress to a quarter-final tie with Arsenal.
A closer look at THAT penalty from Julián Alvarez 😱 pic.twitter.com/HdyUQ0TeOE
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 13, 2025
UEFA releases clearer picture of Alvarez incident
UEFA released a statement this afternoon, which included a clearer video of Alvarez touching the ball twice. The statement read: “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 Champions League match against Real Madrid.
“Although minimal, the player made contact with the ball using his standing foot before kicking it. 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 – an organisation that set the rules for the game and will ultimately have the finals open whether that particular law needs to be changed.
Atletico boss Simeone not impressed
Alvarez’s penalty dominated the post-match conversation and Atletico boss Diego Simeone was not convinced it was the right call.
“I’ve just seen the images, the referee says Julián touches the ball with his supporting leg, but the ball doesn’t move,” he said. “That’s debatable, whether it was a goal or not. But I’m proud of my players, I’m honestly happy, because we competed in an exemplary way.
“When Julián kicks [the penalty], the ball doesn’t even move a bit. I imagine that they called the VAR and saw that he touched it. I want to believe that they’ll have seen that he touched it.”
Atleti won 1-0 on the night thanks to Conor Gallagher’s goal in the opening minute but were unable to find a second during a game high in energy but low in quality.
“Are you afraid because you’re going to be punished?” 🤐
Diego Simeone reacts to Julian Alvarez drama after Atletico Madrid’s Champions League exit.
🎥 UEFA2025 pic.twitter.com/2sNDlksUZe
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 13, 2025
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois thought the right decision had been made regarding Alvarez’s spot-kick and both he and his team-mates were quick to make their point to on-field referee Marciniak.
“I felt that he touched the ball twice and I told the referee,” the Belgian said. “It’s not easy to see that.”
He was unimpressed, however, by Simeone questioning the integrity of the VAR.
“For UEFA, it’s clear. I’m sick of this victimhood, always crying about things like this. Referees don’t want to benefit one team or another in Spain or in Europe, for them it was clear. With the technology, in the VAR room they saw it clearly, they have a lot of cameras and a lot of images.”
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