Julian Alvarez’s spot kick was controversially ruled out in Atletico Madrid’s shoot-out defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League – but why was it disallowed, and did the forward even break the rules at all?
Alvarez was second on Atletico’s list of penalty takers in their Champions League last-16 shoot-out, after they had beaten city-rivals Real 1-0 in the second leg to square the tie 2-2 on aggregate.
The Argentine stepped up from 12 yards and, despite slipping, smashed his penalty just beneath the crossbar past a helpless Thibault Courtois. More than a minute later the kick was disallowed following a VAR check which ruled that he had touched the ball with both feet as he fell.
In IFAB’s 2024/25 Laws of the Game, in describing the procedure of a penalty shoot-out it is stated: “[A penalty] kick is completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any offence; the kicker may not play the ball a second time.”
In the end, that rule would prove crucial in the shoot-out as Real progressed 4-2 on spot kicks, with Marcos Llorente and Lucas Vazquez both also missing penalties for either side.
At the time Alvarez’s effort was disallowed, Real’s next taker Federico Valverde had been waiting for his own attempt for some time when referee Szymon Marciniak, who was the man in the middle for Man City’s Champions League final win over Inter in 2023, pointed to both of his own feet and crossed his arms to signal that the previous goal had been disallowed.
Large sections of the support inside the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium appeared unaware that Alvarez’s effort had been chalked off, while many of the wider viewing public questioned whether it should have been disallowed at all.
