Arsenal had to endure many periods of pressure from Atletico Madrid, including one moment where the Emirates Stadium crowd feared a penalty was going to be given
Former Champions League referee Mark Clattenburg has explained why Atletico Madrid were not given a penalty against Arsenal.
In the second half, the Emirates Stadium crowd held a deep breath when Riccardo Calafiori scythed down Antoine Griezmann in the penalty area.
The Italian made contact on the Frenchman and many feared Diego Simeone’s side were going to be given a chance to equalise from the penalty spot. However, a VAR check was carried out but a spot-kick was not given.
Clattenburg explained it was not given because a foul on Gabriel Magalhaes had been committed by an Atletico player before the Calafiori challenge.
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Speaking on Amazon Prime, the English former referee said: “I think what the VAR has looked at is Calafiori’s challenge on Grizemann.
“He believes that’s a penalty kick, and replays show it was, but there was a foul just before on Gabriel.
“So they had to check the foul first and he agrees with the referee’s analysis of a foul. Therefore, the foul outweighs the penalty kick.”
It was the second time in the clash VAR took a brief moment to take a look at a potential Atletico penalty. Not too long before that tackle, Gabriel seemingly brought down Marc Pubill in the 18-yard box.
However, the same conclusion of no penalty was reached. Earlier in the game, Arsenal also felt they could have potentially had a penalty when Griezmann appeared to shove Leandro Trossard in the back.
Neither Daniel Siebert on the pitch, his assistants or the VAR felt there was enough contact to warrant an Arsenal penalty.
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