Kylian Mbappe appeared to alert match officials to Julian Alvarez’s ‘double touch’ during Real Madrid’s Champions League penalty shootout win over Atletico Madrid.
In a bizarre sequence of events, the Argentine’s successful spot-kick was chalked off by referee Szymon Marciniak after a VAR review determined that he had touched the ball with his standing foot before firing his effort into the roof of the net.
Footage of the incident appears to show the Frenchman informing the fourth official of the issue when the home supporters in the Riyadh Air Metropolitano rejoiced after believing their side had levelled this up from the spot.
The former Manchester City striker was the most consequential casualty of a slippery surface that caused many players to tumble during the gruelling 120 minutes.
Diego Simeone’s men overturned a 2-1 deficit from the first leg thanks to Conor Gallagher’s six-minute strike but would ultimately lose another European tie to their city rivals from the spot.
In a stunning change of character, Atletico did not protest the decision to strike off Alvarez’s effort, according to French outlet L’Equipe, because the forward admitted to his coach that he had touched the ball twice.
Kylian Mbappe appeared to alert the fourth official to Julian Alvarez’s double touch in the shoot out
Alvarez touched the ball twice after slipping while tacking his penalty in the shoot out
Without his admission, there could have been a case for appeal as video evidence did not offer definitive proof. The laws of the game, set by IFAB, state that ‘the kicker may not play the ball a second time’.
The Champions League ball does not have a built-in chip, unlike with the ball used by UEFA at the Euros or by FIFA at the World Cup to determine an impact.
However, the Champions League does operate semi-automated offside technology (SOAT), which uses 30 in-stadium cameras and AI to automatically determine the ‘kick-point’ for offside decisions.
It is possible that VAR may have used that technology, rather than the video replays, to have ruled that Alvarez had touched the ball twice.
Earlier, it was Los Blancos that were cursing their failure from 12 yards when Vinicius Jr stepped up and blazed a penalty into the crowd during normal time.
It was a frustrating night for the Brazilian who was substituted before the game went to penalty and was therefore unable to participate.
Meanwhile, Mbappe was one of four Madrid stars to successfully convert in the shootout, along with Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Antonio Rudiger.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side continue their pursuit of a record-extending 16th Champions League crown against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the competition.
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