Diego Simeone was unhappy with Arsenal’s penalty decision after Atletico Madrid’s 1-1 attract the primary leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.
Viktor Gyokeres put Arsenal in front from the penalty spot late in the primary half after he was barged over within the box by Atletico centre-back David Hancko.
Atletico were then awarded a penalty of their very own within the second half after the ball struck Ben White’s hand from Marcos Llorente’s shot, and Julian Alvarez stepped as much as equalise for Simeone’s side.
Arsenal felt that they had a second penalty when Hancko mistimed an interception and stood on Eberechi Eze’s foot, nevertheless, Dutch referee Danny Makkelie reversed his initial decision after watching several replays on the VAR screen.
When asked about Gyokeres’ penalty decision in the primary half, Simeone said: ‘For my part, the primary penalty involved contact from behind, the player anticipated the contact and went down.
‘In Champions League semi-finals, you would like a penalty that is actually a penalty.
‘The referee understood that it was. On the opposite occasion, due to VAR, he understood that it was a penalty because initially it wasn’t a handball, after which, within the second instance, also due to VAR, it wasn’t a penalty.
‘VAR sometimes gives you the good thing about the doubt and sometimes it takes it away.’
Arteta, meanwhile, admitted Arsenal were ‘fuming’ with the choice to overturn Eze’s penalty claim within the second half.
‘The choice after which what happens for a time period. The referee has to observe it 13 times, it’s clearer than that,’ Arteta said.
‘It’s unimaginable, and yeah, we’re all fuming about it.
Asked if Atletico’s supporters and animated coaching staff had an impact on the choice, Arteta replied: ‘That has nothing to do with that.
‘I’m sure they’re thoroughly aware of what the response goes to be. It’s normal, that response, we want to use the foundations.
‘The identical thing that I’m saying, that they applied the foundations on Ben White’s penalty, that’s difficult to just accept, nevertheless it is a penalty with a handbook.
‘And what they said at first of the season, Ebs is a transparent and really obvious penalty. That’s it.’
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