Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti discussed the controversy surrounding Julian Alvarez’s penalty, after his team beat Atletico Madrid in a dramatic Champions League last 16 second leg shootout on Wednesday.
Madrid went into the tie 2-1 up after a first leg win at the Bernabeu last week. In just over 30 seconds, however, Conor Gallagher tied the aggregate score by terminating a team move inside Thibaut Courtois’ area.
Vinicius Jr. missing a penalty in regular time meant that Atletico won 1-0 yet a shootout was needed to determine which outfit would face Arsenal in the quarterfinals.
Toni Rudiger scored the winning spot kick as Madrid prevailed 4-2, but there was controversy after Julian Alvarez initially appeared to have scored his effort yet later had VAR overrule it for a double touch.
The incident is being widely discussed on social media, and naturally Ancelotti was asked about it in a post-match interview with Spanish broadcaster Movistar.
Ancelotti was shown a replay of the kick, and was hesitant to give an answer before saying: “Football … It’s very strange. He touches it, he takes two touches because he shoots with his right and touches with his left. It’s a lottery.”
While Endrick was brought on for Vinicius Jr. in extra time as there were around five minutes to spare, with a view to having the youngster be a penalty taker, Ancelotti explained how Rudiger got the nod.
“We wanted to put Endrick in as the fifth taker, but we thought Rudiger was colder. I didn’t see Endrick so happy when I told him to shoot the fifth,” Ancelotti said with a laugh.
Ancelotti confirmed that his team “wanted to finish the game before the penalties” as it chased a goal.
[Eduardo] Camavinga contributed a lot, like [Fede] Valverde in the middle. [Aurelien] Tchouameni had the yellow card, that’s why I changed him. Brahim also contributed a lot. It’s our team, we have problems, [Ferland] Mendy got injured too. But we keep fighting, as is customary at this club,” Ancelotti insisted.
Ancelotti said that his main concern was playing a game “without control”.
“They didn’t have many chances, the tie was even and they were looking for a counterattack. In the second half we had good control in the opponent’s half. If you don’t score, you could go to penalties,” he warned.