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UEFA has issued an official, albeit brief, statement explaining why Arsenal were refused a second penalty after Eberechi Eze went down under a challenge from Atlético Madrid defender Dávid Hancko. The explanation is unlikely to ease the intense frustration felt by Mikel Arteta.
According to the Champions League's governing body, the reasoning is straightforward: Hancko "did not commit a foul on the opponent," as stated in a quote reported by Sky Sports News.
That was not the view of referee Danny Makkelie at the time of the incident. With the Champions League semifinal first leg finely balanced at 1–1 following a penalty apiece for both teams, the Dutch official pointed to the spot for a third time after Eze nudged the ball away from Hancko inside the penalty area.
🤬🤬🤬 knew he'd buckle ! Home side gets that pen! pic.twitter.com/HU2UENcHCt
Replays indicated that the Arsenal No. 10 did reach the ball before his Atlético opponent, though Hancko made only minimal contact with Eze, who nonetheless fell to the ground. Makkelie was directed to the pitchside monitor by the video assistant referee (VAR) and, upon reviewing the footage, reversed his initial decision.
For many observers, the controversy extended beyond the incident itself. Once a referee awards a penalty on the pitch, VAR is only supposed to "intervene for clear and obvious mistakes." Arsenal boss Arteta made it abundantly clear how he felt about the reversal.
Arteta: I'm Incredibly Fuming
"What I am incredibly fuming with, is how the penalty on Ebs [Eberechi Eze] gets overturned in the manner that it happened, when it's not a clear and obvious error," Arteta said at his post-match press conference. "This changes the course of the game. At this level, I'm sorry, but this cannot happen."
"The referee has to watch it 13 times," the Gunners manager argued, "it's clearer than that. It's impossible, and yeah, we are all fuming about it."
Arteta had already seen his side earn one spot kick—Hancko's clumsy foul on Viktor Gyökeres was converted by the Swedish forward just before halftime—and concede another. While the Basque manager maintained that Ben White's handball would not have been penalized in domestic football—"In the Premier League, it's not a penalty"—he did not contest that particular call in a Champions League context. From Arteta's admittedly partisan perspective, the same rules were not applied to the Eze situation.
"The same thing that I'm saying, that they applied the rules on Ben White's penalty, that is difficult to accept, but it is a penalty with a handbook," Arteta reiterated. "And what they said at the beginning of the season, Ebs is a clear and very obvious penalty. That's it."
Despite the controversy, Arsenal head back to the Emirates for next week's crucial second leg with the tie level. The odds favor them as they stand just one game away from their first Champions League final in two decades. Still, Arteta couldn't resist reflecting on what might have been.
"When you have fought so hard for nine months to be in this position, that's another goal that changed completely in the course of the tie, and it cannot happen—I'm sorry," he said. "We put so much on it, so, so, so much on it. This cannot happen."