Mikel Arteta ‘incredibly fuming’ at overturned penalty decision in Arsenal draw
By Philip Duncan, Press Association, Madrid
A furious Mikel Arteta said he was “incredibly fuming” with VAR’s decision to overturn a late Arsenal penalty in his side’s 1-1 Champions League draw against Atletico Madrid.
Viktor Gyokeres and Julian Alvarez both scored from the spot before Dutch referee Danny Makkelie awarded Arsenal a third penalty of the night after Eberechi Eze was sent tumbling by David Hancko’s outstretched right leg with 10 minutes of the semi-final first leg remaining.
However, VAR intervened before Makkelie controversially overturned his own decision.
It was the second VAR intervention of the evening which went against Arsenal after Ben White was adjudged to have handled Marcos Llorente’s volley, which Alvarez converted from the spot.
And Arteta said: “In the manner that we conceded the penalty, we were disappointed. In the Premier League, it’s not a penalty, but here I have to accept that this is handball.
“But what I’m incredibly fuming with is how the hell the penalty on Eze gets overturned in the manner that it happened when there is no clear and obvious error? And this changes the course of the game. And at this level, I’m sorry but this cannot happen.
“When a referee has to watch it 13 times, what is clear about that? It’s impossible and we are all fuming about it. We need to apply the rules.
“When you have fought so hard for nine months to be in this position, that goal could have completely changed the course of the tie. And it cannot happen. I’m sorry. We put so much on it. So, so, so much on it. This cannot happen.”
Asked if he would take up the incident with UEFA, Arteta replied: “I think that it’s up to the club to decide the best thing to do. Now they’re not going to give us a penalty. That’s gone. And that’s it. That’s over.”
Pressed on his reaction to Arteta’s comments, Atleti boss Diego Simeone, who gesticulated wildly throughout the VAR process and also appeared to call for Eze to be booked for diving, said: “I never give my opinion on my colleague’s statement.
“In terms of the first penalty (for Arsenal), in my humble opinion, the player feels contact on his back and he drops down and in the Champions League semi-finals, this cannot be a penalty, but the referee believed it was.
“The second one (against Eze) was not a penalty. Sometimes the VAR plays in your favour and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Despite the setback, Arteta will be hopeful of using home advantage in the second leg at the Emirates on Tuesday to secure Arsenal’s first final since 2006.
Arteta added: “I’m very proud and I said that to the boys, the way we handled the context for nine-and-a-half months is just remarkable, and I really value what they’ve done because I’ve seen some of the best teams in the world here fall apart and concede three and four.
“We didn’t get the result that we wanted. We wanted to win it. But at least it is in our hands, in front of our people. We want to be in that final and in a week’s time we are going to have the opportunity to do that.”
