Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois blasts Atletico Madrid 'victimhood' as Diego Simeone fumes at VAR verdict in shoot-out
Updated 13/03/2025 at 17:07 GMT
Thibaut Courtois said he is "sick" of Atletico Madrid's "victimhood", after Diego Simeone was left questioning the VAR verdict which saw Julian Alvarez's spot-kick chalked off in their tense UEFA Champions League last-16 penalty shoot-out. Alvarez sunk his penalty, but the strike was later ruled out upon review after he was deemed to have made contact with the ball with his supporting leg.
‘Surely not!’ – VAR rules out Alvarez penalty in shoot-out for double touch
Video credit: TNT Sports
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said he is "sick" of Atletico Madrid "crying" about their misfortunes.
The comments came after Real's tightly-fought UEFA Champions League last-16 victory over their city rivals, as the holders squeezed through thanks to Julian Alvarez's chalked-off strike in the penalty shoot-out.
The Argentina striker was deemed to have made contact with the ball with his supporting leg upon slipping in his run-up, despite sinking his side's second spot-kick, and it proved costly as, though Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez's penalty, Marcos Llorente crashed his effort against the crossbar to send Atletico out.
The decision left Atletico boss Simeone baffled, with the coach asking journalists to raise their hands if they thought the penalty should have been disallowed in his post-match press conference.
"I've just seen the images. The referee says Julian touches the ball with his supporting leg, but the ball doesn't move," Simeone said in his post-match news conference.
"That's debatable whether it was a goal or not. But I'm proud of my players, I'm honestly happy, because we competed in an exemplary way."
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'I think he touches it with his left foot' - Ancelotti, Modric and Courtois react to Alvarez penalty
Video credit: SNTV
He added: "When Julian kicks, the ball doesn't even move a bit," Simeone said. "I imagine that they called the VAR and saw that he touched it. I want to believe that they'll have seen that he touched it."
Real goalkeeper Courtois, though, did not care to entertain any Atletico protests, slamming what he felt was "victimhood" from his side's city rivals.
The Belgian also said he immediately went to notify referee Szymon Marciniak of Alvarez's infringement from the penalty spot.
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"I felt that he touched the ball twice and I told the referee," Courtois said. "It's not easy to see that. It was a bit of bad luck."
And in response to Simeone's comments, the goalkeeper added: "For UEFA, it's clear. I'm sick of this victimhood, always crying about things like this. Referees don't want to benefit one team or another in Spain or in Europe. For them, it was clear.
"With the technology in the VAR room, they saw it clearly; they have a lot of cameras and a lot of images."
Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, felt the call was fair upon watching a replay, but insisted Atletico exit the competition "with their heads held high" after a fiercely-competitive clash across two legs.
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'Did anyone see Julian touch the ball twice?' - Simeone rants after Alvarez penalty decision
Video credit: SNTV
"I think the referees had already spotted it on VAR when we realised," Ancelotti said. "I didn't see it initially, but it looks like he did touch it with his left foot when I watched it back."
"It's a lottery and it went our way. Atletico go out of the competition with their heads held high because they played at their very best. I was pretty calm about it all. When it's a lottery like that, you toss the coin and luckily it went our way."
Arsenal now await the 15-time Champions League winners in the quarter-final, after they sealed a 9-3 aggregate victory over PSV in the round of 16.
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