Diego Simeone, coach of Atlético Madrid, recalled how he and his team felt “outraged and violated” by the disallowed decisive penalty by Julián Álvarez during the Champions League Round of 16 clash against Real Madrid. He emphasized that “it doesn’t make sense and never will” why such a critical decision was made in such an important moment.
“It’s hard to even describe something so violent. We felt outraged, violated… Why did it happen? It doesn’t make sense, and it never will,” said the coach in an interview with DAZN, a preview of which was released Wednesday on their social media channels.
“At that moment I was walking around, because I wasn’t watching the penalty kicks. When I saw he scored, I said ‘goal,’ and suddenly I saw no one celebrating. I asked what happened, because I hadn’t seen the play, and they told me he touched the ball twice. So I thought, ‘well, maybe he did touch it twice,’” he recalled.
“But then you rewatch the game and see he didn’t touch the ball twice… it’s hard. So much work depends on one key moment—how it was handled, how it played out. It wasn’t just any penalty. It was a penalty that meant reaching the quarterfinals,” Simeone emphasized about the March 12th incident, which occurred during the shootout after Atlético leveled the tie 1–0 at the Metropolitano, following a 2–1 first-leg loss at the Bernabéu.
“We had a very strong Champions League campaign this year,” the coach continued, expressing his deep frustration over the decision that ultimately eliminated his team.
Simeone also stated that “this play will go down in soccer history.”
“From this, like always, they’ll change the rule” (The International Football Association Board – IFAB – announced on Tuesday that from now on, similar plays will result in a retaken penalty), said the coach, in an interview recorded prior to IFAB’s ruling.
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Julian Alvarez’s UEFA Champions League penalty controversy vs. Real Madrid shakes up the rules: Here’s what IFAB changed
“I remember Ramos’ goal in the Champions League” (referring to the 2015–16 final at San Siro, where the match finished 1–1 and was decided on penalties), he recalled.
“I was right next to the assistant referee, and I saw it was offside, he didn’t. It was clearly offside. Years later, the referee said, ‘We made a mistake.’ But moments like that don’t come back. And this one won’t either. It remains an outrage. Plain and simple,” he concluded in the video released by DAZN.
