UEFA ready to open talks over a shock rule change after Julian Alvarez’s penalty was controversially disallowed against Real Madrid.
The Spanish derby went to a shootout in the Champions League last 16 after Atletico won 1-0 on the night to level 2-2 on aggregate.
But controversy struck when former Manchester City star Alvarez slipped while taking his spot-kick.
His effort went in but was soon chalked off and overturned to a miss after replays revealed the slip caused him to twice touch the ball before it went in.
It violated Uefa’s rules on penalties but, after Atletico launched an appeal, the governing body ruled the stipulation could be looked at and changed.
Uefa said in a statement: “Atletico de Madrid enquired with UEFA over the incident, which led to the disallowance of the kick from the penalty mark taken by Julian Alvarez at the end of yesterday’s UEFA Champions League match against Real Madrid.
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“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.”
Madrid progressed 4-2 on penalties with ex-Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger scoring the deciding spot kick.
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But, had Alvarez’s kick have counted, Atletico would have had one final penalty to take the contest to sudden death.
Atletico manager Diego Simeone fumed in the post-match press conference.
He said: “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.”
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Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “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.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
