“Surely not, on a night like this….”
Steve McManaman’s commentary on TNT Sports echoed the feeling of many neutral observers as Atletico Madrid’s Champions League hopes wilted in the most bewildering and dramatic circumstances on Wednesday.
There are many painful ways to lose a European tie against your bitter rivals, but this had to be among the worst.
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The VAR (of course it was) system became the protagonist as the video referee ruled out Atletico striker Julian Alvarez’s penalty in the shootout that followed a tense last-16 second leg against Real Madrid.
It was deemed that Alvarez’s standing left foot made contact with the ball as he scored from a shot with his right, and referee Szymon Marciniak disallowed the ‘double-tap’ penalty.
Repeated viewing of the incident doesn’t make it obvious.
Álvarez’s penalty is overturned by VAR after a double touch 😳
📺 Watch the Champions League LIVE on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/q7Rs0ngfX7
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 12, 2025
For readers in the United States
“He does touch it… that’s the rule.”
Thierry Henry and @MicahRichards analyze Julián Álvarez’s disallowed penalty against Real Madrid 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/LuraFVoy75
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 12, 2025
Perhaps the Real Madrid players who gestured there had been an infraction and protested afterwards have superhuman eyesight, or perhaps they were trying their luck given Alvarez slipped, but the VAR — and not in-ball technology — confirmed a rule breach.
Yes, Alvarez had tumbled but it is unlikely that anyone in real-time could have spotted a conclusive double-touch as he struck the ball.
But by the most minuscule measure, the VAR’s scrutiny spotted a law breach, and it was both correct (probably) and decisive as Real went on to win the shootout and progress to the quarter-finals.
The IFAB (International Football Association Board) laws of the game prohibit a player taking the penalty kick from playing the ball twice before it has touched another player, or the ball stops moving or goes out of play.
It won’t help a crestfallen Alvarez or fuming Diego Simeone (there is a smudge of irony that the masters of the dark arts coming a cropper to such an obscure rule breach), but to expand on McManaman’s point, perhaps given the context of Wednesday night and the specific incident, UEFA and IFAB need to reconsider the rules.
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Is it really good for the game to have contests settled by something like this?
By the letter of the law, the VAR was right, but the spirit of the law should encompass whether the accidental double-touch creates any advantage.
A slip is not a deliberate attempt to cheat and the ball appears to move cleanly without any change in direction that could have flummoxed Real keeper Thibaut Courtois. It was just well struck and beat him. A slip and two-touch could just as well prompt a miskick that flies off-target.
If anything, Alvarez was disadvantaged as he lost his footing, but the former Manchester City man’s technique was still sharp enough to find the net. Still, he was punished.
There is also the question of why in-ball technology, which involves microchipped balls and is designed to help improve the accuracy of decision-making, was not in use.
UEFA used it at Euro 2024 last summer but it is only deployed in European Championships, not the Champions League.
Surely the most high-profile and lucrative domestic cup competition in the world needs every bit of help it can get to avoid such head-spinning controversy?
This is not to suggest the VAR or UEFA have somehow been callous. The rules have been followed as much as possible. But a rule that then disallows the spot kick feels overly cruel. The player should at least be allowed to re-take the penalty.
Perhaps it can stand as a salutary lesson for other penalty takers. Only Alvarez and the Atletico kit team will know if he was wearing the optimal boots for a shootout, but with pitches frequently watered before and at half-time of games, there may be logic in changing into grippier footwear for shootouts.
For now, though, Real’s death-grip on the Champions League knockout stages persists, and fair-minded fans can only sympathise with Alvarez and the home supporters at the Metropolitano stadium who will never forget the way they exited.
“If someone present here saw Julian touch the ball twice, raise your hand,” demanded a fiery Simeone afterwards. “Who raises their hand? You didn’t raise it. Right, next question.”
The question for UEFA is whether the spirit of the law should prompt a rethink.
