Diego Simeone feels Arsenal’s penalty against Atletico Madrid should have been overturned, arguing that Viktor Gyokeres dived to win the charge.
In a contentious Champions League semi-final first leg at the Metropolitano Stadium, three penalties were awarded, one of which was reversed, According To Standard News.
Gyokeres gave Arsenal the lead from the spot in the penultimate minute of the first half after seeming to be pushed over by David Hancko, but Julian Alvarez equalised after the interval after Ben White was deemed to have handled the ball in the penalty area.
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Ten minutes from time, Arsenal gained a second penalty after Hancko was again found to be at fault after Eberechi Eze was brought down by a tackle. However, this time, VAR reversed the ruling.
The third penalty decision was deemed “unacceptable” by Mikel Arteta, while Simeone was more concerned with the first following the 1-1 tie.
“The first penalty, in my opinion, there is contact from behind, the player waits for the contact and goes down,” he said to reporters.In a Champions League semi-final, you require a penalty that is truly a penalty. The referee thought it was.
“In the other incident [the referee] felt, thanks to VAR, that it was a penalty, because first it wasn’t [deemed] handball, and then, in the second one, also thanks to VAR, that it wasn’t a penalty.”VAR sometimes gives and sometimes takes.
Atletico will travel to London next week for the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
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