Arsenal were left unhappy after a penalty was overturned during the 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg
Arsenal face a nervous wait to discover if Declan Rice’s comments after the draw with Atletico Madrid will result in a punishment from UEFA. The Gunners were held to a 1-1 stalemate with the La Liga outfit in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.
Viktor Gyokeres opened the scoring from the penalty spot for Arsenal before Julian Alvarez equalised for Atletico with a spot-kick at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.
The draw means that a win for Arsenal in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday will see Mikel Arteta’s side progress to the final in Budapest, where Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich will be the opponents.
However, Arsenal were on the receiving end of a controversial VAR decision in the closing stages in Madrid when a penalty was overturned.
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Eberechi Eze was deemed to have been fouled by David Hancko, and a spot-kick was awarded by referee Danny Makkelie, only for the decision to be reversed following a VAR check.
Rice gave his verdict on the incident, believing it was an error to reverse the decision.
“Ebs’ one is a clear penalty,” Rice is quoted as telling The Sun.
“So I don’t know how that’s not been given. I think that the fans provoked the decision and changed the ref’s mind.”
UEFA are now waiting for Makkelie to submit the official report from the match before deciding whether or not to take action following Rice’s comments.
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However, if Rice has been deemed to have questioned the integrity of the referee, the Arsenal star could be in line for a punishment from UEFA. This could be in the form of a ban that may see the midfielder miss the second leg against Atletico next week.
Arteta also explained after the game why he was not happy with the decision to overturn the penalty that was awarded to Arsenal.
“What I’m incredibly fuming with is how the hell the penalty on Ebz [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 asked if he had received any clarification on the decision, the Arsenal boss added: “No. A very clear explanation of the decision and what happens for a period of time a referee has to watch it 13 times what’s more clear than that? It’s impossible and we are all fuming about it.”
