Atletico Madrid midfielder Giuliano Simeone has voiced his frustration after his side were denied two penalty appeals in their Champions League defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night. Bukayo Saka's first-half tap-in at the Emirates Stadium secured a 2-1 aggregate victory for the Gunners, ending what had been a promising run for the Spanish club.
Controversial Decisions
The match was not without controversy, as Atletico believed they should have been awarded two penalties. The first incident occurred early in the second half when Simeone, having outwitted Arsenal defender William Saliba, intercepted a poor backpass and was through on goal before Gabriel intervened with a tackle inside the penalty area, appearing to shove Simeone. Neither referee Daniel Siebert nor VAR deemed the contact sufficient for a spot-kick.
Simeone took to social media after the match, posting screenshots of the incident on his Instagram story. He said: "It was all very fast but what I felt was that when I was taking the shot he destabilized me and I couldn't shoot well. The referee didn't even go to check the VAR. The same happened in the play with Antoine (Griezmann)."
The second incident saw Riccardo Calafiori bring down Antoine Griezmann in the box, with VAR reviewing the challenge. However, no penalty was awarded as Atletico full-back Marc Pubill was judged to have fouled Gabriel Magalhaes in the build-up. Former Champions League referee Mark Clattenburg explained on Amazon Prime: "I think what the VAR has looked at is Calafiori's challenge on Griezmann. He believes that's a penalty kick, and replays show it was, but there was a foul just before on Gabriel. So they had to check the foul first and he agrees with the referee's analysis of a foul. Therefore, the foul outweighs the penalty kick."
Reactions from the Simeone Camp
Diego Simeone, Giuliano's father and Atletico's manager, attempted to downplay the refereeing decisions but was evidently disappointed. He said: "There's nothing to say. We are out and we need to congratulate Arsenal. We have to keep working. We won't focus on a detail that can be seen and is very obvious."
Atletico midfielder Koke added: "I'm not going to talk about the referee, I'm sure he tried to do his best, just like it happened in the first match. He'll know how he should have refereed. I imagine that he tried his best."
The defeat ends Atletico's Champions League campaign, while Arsenal advance to the next round.
