UEFA Champions League Controversy: Potential Rule Change Following Julian Alvarez Penalty Incident

UEFA announced on Thursday that they will be reviewing a potential rule change following the controversy surrounding Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez's disallowed penalty in their Champions League shootout against Real Madrid. The shootout ended with Real Madrid prevailing 4-2 after a 2-2 aggregate draw, securing their spot in the quarter-finals. Atletico coach Diego Simeone expressed doubts about the decision to disallow Alvarez's penalty, as VAR intervened to rule that the Argentina international had inadvertently touched the ball twice while taking the spot-kick. This incident has prompted UEFA to reconsider the rules around penalties in future competitions.

"Although minimal, the player made contact with the ball using his standing foot before kicking it," UEFA said in a statement.

"Under the current rule, the VAR had to call the referee signalling that the goal should be disallowed."

However, European football's governing body said it would hold talks with the sport's lawmakers regarding the rule on double touches.

"UEFA will enter discussions with FIFA and IFAB to determine whether the rule should be reviewed in cases where a double touch is clearly unintentional," it added.

Simeone said he wanted to believe the officials got the penalty decision right.

"I've never seen a penalty where they've called the VAR, but well, they would have seen that he touched it, I want to believe, I want to believe they saw he touched it."

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The coach asked members of the media during his press conference to raise their hand if they had seen a replay in which it was clear Alvarez had touched the ball twice.

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"Raise your hand, anyone who saw Julian touch it twice, who is going to raise their hand? Nobody has raised their hand," shouted Simeone.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)