Atletico Madrid are still reeling from their heartbreaking Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday. They bowed out of the competition after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out defeat that had lots of controversy, with the big moment seeing Julian Alvarez’s successful effort ruled out by VAR for a double-touch.
Diego Simeone is still angry about the incident three days on, and the same can be said for Atleti president Enrique Cerezo, who directed his fury towards VAR, which he has never been in favour of, as per Diario AS.
“Until Wednesday night we were ready for the three competitions: Champions League, Copa del Rey and La Liga. But that day, an incident with an aparto, a system or a terrifying tool, which is very bad, that is good for nothing more than to harm teams and that is called VAR, because they truncated one of the greatest illusions for us, which was to continue in the Champions League.
“I don’t like VAR, but it’s not that I say it now, I’ve always said it. I don’t criticise the VAR for the mistake the other day. Because it’s not a mistake by the referee, it’s a VAR error, which I don’t know where they saw the ball touch the same leg twice on a player’s leg. VAR is a conflictive tool, which is not safe and above all, we all believe that it was brought to make football fairer and I believe that it has been brought to make it more unfair.”
There has certainly been a lot of controversy surrounding Alvarez’s penalty, but Atleti cannot do anything about it now. They must channel their frustration into performances on the pitch, and that needs to start with Sunday’s showdown clash against Barcelona at the Metropolitano.
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