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The decision, which came in the 74th minute, left Atlético players and fans bewildered, as Italian referee Marco Guida pointed to the spot after a chaotic sequence in the penalty area.
The pivotal moment occurred when Ángel Gomes of Lille appeared to handle the ball in the box, followed by a light contact from Atlético captain Koke on Gomes, who then went down.
Despite the protests and visible confusion from Atlético players, Guida declined to consult the monitor for a review and confirmed his decision after a brief communication with the VAR.
Minutes later, Lille’s Jonathan David converted the penalty, tipping the balance of the game and sealing Atlético’s defeat.
Atlético manager Diego Simeone was vocal about the decision, saying, “Hopefully we can find something so we can say it was a penalty, so we can rest assured that it was a penalty. The referee first said it was a handball, then they said Koke pushed someone in the middle of the field… But the truth is that nobody cares. The 2-1 tipped the balance in Lille’s favour.”
Simeone continued, expressing frustration over the ambiguity, “There’s nothing. It’s like when someone says ‘penalty’. Fine. Explain to me why it was a penalty. Honestly, I hope we can see something. I hope UEFA or whoever is saying it, says that ‘the referee was right, the VAR didn’t help him, because the referee was right and awarded a penalty’. But when they award a penalty when they didn’t touch it with their hand…”
Atlético forward Julián Alvarez added to the skepticism, remarking in the mixed zone, “I didn’t go to the referee to see what explanation he gave. Afterwards, I saw the video and it looked like a handball by the Lille player and then I don’t know if Koke touched him or not. But first, it’s a handball. Besides, I think he should have seen it clearly.”
Goalkeeper Jan Oblak, equally puzzled by the call, noted, “He whistled for the handball. And in the end, I don’t know what happened. He says they’re checking for a handball and if you say it wasn’t a handball, well I don’t know what it was. It’s incredible. It hurt us, but if we had done the job we should have done, we couldn’t be punished for this mistake.”
Oblak admitted frustration over missed opportunities, stating, “In the end it’s very ugly, you lose 3-1 at home, but we had the game to kill it off and we didn’t do it.”
The controversial penalty has fueled ongoing debates surrounding UEFA’s officiating standards in the Champions League, with Atlético now seeking an explanation for what they believe was a critical error that influenced the outcome of the match.
