Simeone calls penalty decision 'an outrage' after Champions League exit

In an interview with DAZN, of which a clip was released on Wednesday via their social media, the Argentinian coach struggled to find words to describe the incident. "It's hard to put a word to something so violent. We feel outraged, violated," he said.

Simeone recalled how neither he nor his team could understand, nor ever will, why the decision was made in such a crucial moment. "It's difficult to comprehend why it happened in such an important and specific situation," he added.

"At the time, I was walking because I wasn't watching the penalty kicks. When I saw Julian score, I said 'That's a goal', but then I saw it wasn't, so I asked what happened, as I hadn't seen the situation. They told me he touched the ball twice. When I heard that, I thought 'Well, he must have touched it twice'...," he recounted.

"But when you watch the match afterwards and see he didn't touch it twice, it's tough, especially considering all the work done from that crucial moment and how the team handled it.

"It wasn't just any penalty. It was a penalty for a place in the quarter-finals," Simeone stressed, referring to the shootout on 12 March after Atletico drew 1-0 at the Metropolitano following a 2-1 defeat at the Bernabeu.

"We had had a very good Champions League campaign this year," the coach continued, emphasising the frustration caused by the disallowed penalty, which led to the club's elimination. Simeone also believes the incident will go down in football history.

"From this, as always happens, the rule will change (The International Board – IFAB – announced on Tuesday that from now on, a penalty will be retaken in a situation similar to Alvarez's)," he pointed out, in an interview recorded before IFAB's decision.

He also recalled the famous Ramos goal in the 2015/16 Champions League final at San Siro, which was offside but allowed to stand. "I was next to the linesman, watching exactly as he did, and I saw it was offside, he didn't. But it was clearly offside.

"Ten or eight years later, the referee admitted, 'We were wrong, it was offside'. But those moments don't come back and this moment won't either. It remains an outrage, plain and simple," Simeone concluded in the DAZN video.