'Raise your hand, anyone who saw Julian touch it twice': Simeone on controversial penalty call against Real Madrid

NEW DELHI: Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone questioned the decision to rule out Julian Alvarez's penalty during his team's Champions League defeat by Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The match ended 2-2 on aggregate, with Los Blancos winning 4-2 in a dramatic penalty shootout after Alvarez slipped while taking his shot. The penalty was disallowed after a VAR review for a supposed double touch on the ball.
Simeone expressed his pride in his team's performance, despite the controversial penalty decision. "But beyond that, which now just serves to argue about whether it should have counted or not, I am proud of my players, I am happy, truly," he said. He acknowledged that they couldn’t defeat Real Madrid but added, "They had a really bad time (against us) again."

The Atletico coach further questioned the VAR decision, stating, "The referee said when Julian got to the penalty spot he touched the ball with his standing foot, but the ball did not move." He added that he wanted to believe the officials made the right call but asked the media, "Raise your hand, anyone who saw Julian touch it twice, who is going to raise their hand? Nobody has raised their hand," he shouted.
Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois, however, felt that Alvarez had indeed touched the ball twice. "In the end it's a lottery, I felt a little that he had touched it twice, that's what I told the referee. It is clearly not easy to see, but it's a bit of bad luck for them there," Courtois explained.
The Belgian goalkeeper criticised Atletico's complaints about the decision, while also commenting on his own club’s previous attacks on Spanish refereeing. "I think UEFA saw it clearly – I'm sick of this victimhood, always crying about stuff like this," Courtois said. "The refs don't want to help particular teams, not in Spain, not in Europe."
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti also supported the VAR decision. "They detected it. When we realised there was this doubt, they had already detected it on VAR," Ancelotti explained. "I saw it, I think he touches it with his left foot, a second touch."