UEFA address Alvarez VAR controversy and say why pen was disallowed | Football | Sport

Fans have been given an explanation as to why Julian Alvarez’s penalty was controversially ruled out in the Champions League last night. With his Atletico side trailing 2-1 in their last-16 shootout with Real Madrid, the Argentinian seemingly levelled matters by firing into the roof of the net.

However, as Real’s next taker Federico Valverde stepped up, referee Szymon Marciniak ordered him not to place the ball down while officials consulted over the Alvarez effort. Marciniak then pointed to both of his own feet and crossed his arms to signal that the goal had been disallowed.

Television replays were inconclusive, but on TNT Sports, commentators quickly informed viewers that Alvarez had been deemed to have touched the ball with both feet as he made contact. However, with no obvious VAR review, many fans in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium appeared unaware that the effort hadn’t counted.

UEFA have today moves to dismiss claims that the decision wasn’t subjected to a video review. The authority has said that VAR was implemented, and utilised the same cameras used for the semi-automatic offside decisions to determine that Alvarez hit the ball twice.

UEFA don’t use the method as FIFA for their competitions. At international tournaments, semi-automated VAR tech, which has an impact sensor in the ball, will determine how many times a player has touched it.

Alvarez appeared distraught after the defeat, with Marcos Llorente also missing for the hosts before Antonio Rudiger converted the winning spot-kick for Real. Afterwards, Atletico manager Diego Simeone questioned if the officials had interpreted the VAR footage correctly.

“I’ve just seen the images, the referee says Julian touches the ball with his supporting leg, but the ball doesn’t move,” he said. “That’s debatable, whether it was a goal or not.

“Again, when Julian kicks, the ball doesn’t even move a bit. I imagine that they called the VAR and saw that he touched it. I want to believe that they’ll have seen that he touched it.”