Alvarez Penalty Controversy: What Football Rulebook Says
Reactions have continued to trail the controversial decision to rule out Julian Alvarez’s effort in the penalty shootout between Atletico Madrid, and Real Madrid.
The defending champions advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals following a dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout victory.
The regulation time and extra time ended 1-0 in favour of Atletico Madrid after Conor Gallagher opened the scoring in the first minute.
The match headed into penalties after both sides failed to find the breakthrough in 120 minutes, but it was not without drama and controversy.
After the first three penalties were converted, Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez slipped, but managed to beat Courtois to make it 2-2 but his effort was ruled out by VAR, stating that he touched the ball twice after the review.
It was ruled that Alvarez touched the ball with his left foot after he slipped, before kicking with his right.
Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vasquez’s penalty before Marcos Llorente hit the bar for the hosts.
Anthony Rudiger converted the last kick to send Real Madrid into the last eight of the competition.
The decision to rule out Alvarez’s penalty has become a subject of discussion between football fans, with many disagreeing with the call.
What do the rules say?
The rules state: “In IFAB’s 2024/25 Laws of the Game, in describing the procedure of a penalty shoot-out it is stated:
“[A penalty] kick is completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any offence; the kicker may not play the ball a second time.”
Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone was not convinced with the call, stating his disagreement in the post-match conference.
He said: “The referee said when Julian got to the penalty spot he touched the ball with his standing foot, but the ball did not move.
“I’ve never seen a penalty where they’ve called the VAR, but well, they would have seen that he touched it. I want to believe they saw he touched it.
“Did you see him touching the ball twice? Please whoever was present in the stadium and saw him touching the ball twice, the ball moving, please come forward and raise your hand. I don’t see anybody with their hands raised so that’s all I have to say… next question.”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied with the decision, confirming that Alvarez touched the ball twice before kicking it.
He said: “They detected it. When we realised there was this doubt they had already detected it on VAR.
“I saw it, I think he touched it with his left foot, a second touch.”
Similarly, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admitted that the decision was unfortunate for Atletico Madrid but the rules had to take its course.
He said: “I felt that there was something weird going on, so we said it straight to the referee and then it was confirmed that there was a double touch and it didn’t count, so that obviously gives us the edge.
“[Alvarez] slipped and he touched the ball twice and that is a missed penalty. You cannot touch the ball twice. That’s bad luck but it’s the rules.”
In 2017, Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez had a penalty disallowed for a similar offence in his side’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City.
Real Madrid will now take on Arsenal in the quarter-finals on April 8 at the Emirates Stadium.
Alvarez Penalty Controversy: What Football Rulebook Says is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
