UEFA have told furious Real Madrid fans why they had a penalty overturned against Arsenal in the first half of their crunch clash.
Los Blancos went into the Champions League quarter-final second leg tie at the Bernabeu trailing 3-0 following a shock defeat last week in north London.
The tie was almost put to bed early on in Wednesday night’s match when VAR intervened to view a possible Arsenal penalty, which referee Francois Letexier awarded after looking at the pitchside monitor.
And Real’s luck was in when Thibaut Courtois denied Bukayo Saka from 12 yards in the 13th minute.
The Gunners winger bizarrely opted to try a Panenka attempt into the bottom corner, which Courtois clawed away with ease after guessing the right way.
Ten minutes later, a penalty was then awarded to Madrid after Kylian Mbappe was adjudged to have been hauled down by Declan Rice.
Rice and his Arsenal teammates instantly reacted in disbelief as they pleaded for the match official to take a second look.
After five agonising minutes, VAR finally instructed Letexier to go over to the monitor.
He then spent the best part of a minute going through the angles with Rice’s hands visible on Mbappe’s body.
But in the end, it was decided that there was not enough contact for a spot-kick to be awarded.
Thankfully for Rice, his yellow card he had picked up was then wiped off, leaving him in contention to face Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals should Arsenal progress.
While Madridistas have taken to social media to vent their anger, UEFA have released a statement as to why the decision was made.
GettyIt was determined that Mbappe went down too softly inside the box[/caption]
An X statement simply read: “The penalty for Real Madrid has been taken away due to a non-foul by Declan Rice.”
Speaking on talkSPORT commentary, England legend Stuart Pearce was also of the opinion that it should be ruled.
However, he alluded to the penalty that Arsenal received when Raul Asencio brought Mikel Merino down as justification why he believed the spot-kick would stand.
Pearce said: “Absolutely not for me.
“The fact he’s given one up one end and Mbappe’s made sure he’s held on to Rice’s body.
“In isolation I think it’s not a penalty, but considering the first one they gave earlier, I’m not sure how you can chalk this off.”
After the penalty was overturned, the Nottingham Forest icon stated: “You knew there was going to be excitement in this game and wow.
“Arsenal have had two pieces of good fortune.”
Neither team were able to make the breakthrough in the first half as Arsenal look to book their first Champions League semi-final spot since 2009.
As for Madrid, they are looking to become just the fifth team in Champions League history to overturn a first leg defeat of at least three goals.
