Double-kick penalty by Álvarez leads to another heartbreaking loss for Atletico against Real Madrid

By Canadian Press on March 12, 2025.

MADRID (AP) — A slip, a double touch, a missed penalty.

Just like that, Atletico Madrid was left enduring yet another heartbreaking loss to rival Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Julián Álvarez slipped and double-touched the ball while taking his penalty kick in the shootout against Madrid on Wednesday, prompting the goal to be erased after video review confirmed the infraction.

It would have tied the shootout 2-2, but Madrid eventually moved ahead 3-1 and won by a final score of 4-2 to advance to the quarterfinals and keep alive its hopes of winning the Champions League again.

“I felt that he touched the ball twice and I told the referee,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said. “It’s not easy to see that. It was a bit of bad luck for them there.”

Atletico coach Diego Simeone said he didn’t see a double touch by the Argentina international in the replays but wanted “to believe that if the VAR intervened it’s because it saw something.”

Conor Gallagher scored less than 30 seconds into the match to give Atletico a 1-0 win after regulation and extra time to leave the score 2-2 on aggregate. Madrid won the first leg 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last week.

For Atletico, which has never won the top European club competition, it meant another excruciating setback against the Madrid — the fifth consecutive to the city rival.

Atletico lost two Champions League finals to Madrid — in 2014 and 2016 — and was eliminated the other two times they faced off in the knockout rounds — in the 2015 quarterfinals and 2017 semifinals.

“It hurts, of course,” Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak said. “We played a great match but unfortunately we were a bit unlucky. It’s a shame. It hurts a lot.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press