Diego Simeone asserts that the ‘ball was stationary’ during Julian Alvarez’s disputed penalty decision.

Atletico Madrid’s manager Diego Simeone has raised concerns regarding the decision to disallow Julian Alvarez’s penalty during his team’s Champions League loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday night.

Los Blancos triumphed 4-2 on penalties after the aggregate score concluded at 2-2 in their last 16 encounter, with Alvarez slipping as he found the net during the shoot-out. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) ruled the goal out due to an alleged double touch on the ball.

“The referee indicated that when Julian reached the penalty spot, he made contact with the ball using his standing foot, yet the ball didn’t move,” Simeone explained to journalists.

“Regardless of that, which now only serves to fuel discussions about whether it should have been valid, I’m proud of my players and genuinely happy.

“Why? Because they competed excellently. Yes, we couldn’t overcome Real Madrid in the Champions League, that’s true, but they had a tough time (against us) again.”

The Atletico boss expressed his desire to believe that the officials made the right call regarding the penalty.

“I’ve never witnessed a penalty decision being referred to VAR, but I hope they saw that he touched it. I want to believe they confirmed he made contact with the ball.“

Simeone then invited media members to raise their hands if anyone had seen a replay that made it clear Alvarez had touched the ball twice.

“Raise your hand if you saw Julian touch it twice, who will raise their hand? No one has raised their hand,” Simeone exclaimed.

Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois suggested that he felt Alvarez did indeed make two touches on the ball as he slipped.

“In the end, it’s a gamble. I sensed that he may have touched it twice, that’s what I relayed to the referee. Clearly, it’s not easy to discern, but it is somewhat unfortunate for them,” Courtois told Movistar.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s coach Carlo Ancelotti also concurred with the decision.

“They identified it; once we realised there was some uncertainty, they had already noted it on VAR,” Ancelotti said. “I observed it, and I believe he did indeed touch it with his left foot, a second touch.”