Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak has insisted his side agreed with the decision to disallow Arsenal's penalty during Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first leg at the Metropolitano. The Gunners thought they had earned a second spot kick when Eberechi Eze appeared to be brought down by David Hancko, with referee Danny Makkelie initially pointing to the spot before overturning the call after a VAR review.
Oblak, 33, said the officials were correct to change their decision. "There's always relief when a penalty is overturned," he said. "I hope I would have stopped it anyway. It was the referee's decision to change it and we agree with him." The Slovenian also reflected on the first penalty he conceded, which was scored by Viktor Gyokeres after Hancko was adjudged to have fouled him.
"I was close to stopping the first penalty but it was just the power. He hit it with maximum power but it's in the past," Oblak added. "We need to focus firstly on the weekend and then to London." The tie is finely poised at 1-1 ahead of next week's second leg at the Emirates, and Oblak expects a different contest from Arsenal's 4-0 victory in the group stage.
Atletico head coach Diego Simeone also offered his views on the penalty decisions. "In my opinion, the first penalty involved contact from behind, the player anticipated the contact and went down," he said. "In Champions League semi-finals, you need a penalty that is truly a penalty." He praised VAR for correcting the initial call on Arsenal's second penalty, noting that it can sometimes "give you the benefit of the doubt and sometimes it takes it away."
Oblak remained cautious about Atletico's chances of reaching the final, saying: "We don't think about lifting the trophy, first we need to work on the pitch in the second leg. Arsenal want to win the Champions League as well so we need to pass them first."
