In a key match for the European aspirations of Atlético de Madrid and the permanence of Alavés, the goalless draw at the Mendizorroza stadium It was eclipsed by a controversial play starring Julián Álvarez and the reactions it raised. The Argentine striker was initially expelled by a hard infraction about Facundo Garcés, but Var intervention modified the course of the sanction And he lit the spirits in the local bank, especially in Eduardo Coudet, coach of the Basque team.
It ran the 39th minute of the first half when Álvarez, in a dispute divided by the ball, hit his leg high. The main referee, Juan Martínez Munuera, interpreted the action as a direct red card for a serious sudden game. The decision seemed unappealable, but the review of the VAR changed the course of events: after observing the play again, the judge concluded that the impact was involuntary, which resulted in a yellow warning for the former Manchester City attacker.
This decision was key to the development of the party, which until then was even, with few approaches in the areas. The Coudet team, urged to add points to take off from the descent zone, understood that the arbitration failure subtracted a determining advantage against a rival that struggles to enter the next Champions League.
After the meeting, the Alavés coach, Eduardo It is Coudet, expressed its discomfort for the development of the play and, especially, by the intervention of the VAR. Although he admitted not having seen the repetition in detail, he pointed against what he considers a negative tendency for his team in arbitration decisions.
“I didn’t see her yet, they told me that I hadn’t been so serious. One always protests on the side of one, but the play that is decided or call to see again, have never fallen to us. I don’t usually look, but Alavés would be ninth if there were no VAR interventions, but we played with Var and we are where we are. Every time they go to the review, it does not fall face, it teaches justice, for that, but we have not had to fall face. I would have wanted it to be expulsion, but I didn’t see the play. I talked to the line and told me that it seemed that it was not and told me that they were sure that it was not, ”said the Argentine coach according to statements released by the newspaper Mark. Anyway, the It is He made it clear that his frustration is with the use of VAR and not with the Argentine striker: “Julian is not a malicious player, nor does he usually have many expulsions. What I think of these situations by how the camera sticks the image on one side is seen and from the other. ”
The coach’s words reflect an accumulation of frustrations against failures that, according to his analysis, conditioned the course of his team during the season.
From the other side, Diego Simeone was also consulted by the play that could have conditioned Atlético for more than half a game. He Cholo He avoided poleminating and positively valued the actions of the review system.
“It is clear that it would have been difficult to play with 10 for 50 minutes. The referee hastened with the red one for what he saw, but calmly to see him in the VAR resolved a very clear situation,” The Atlético coach analyzed.
With regard to the procedure of the match, he outlined: “Neither of us had superiority on the other in terms of the associative game, or in the direct game, or in goal situations, because there were practically no shots on the door in the first part, if I am not mistaken. It was a match that was played in the middle of the field, in a space where there was no danger. In the second part we went less than less; courage in the duels, taking out more centers, with more people within the area, arriving with more associative combinations and more speed.
The draw 0 to 0 left bitter taste in both squads. Atlético needed to add three to consolidate its place among those directly classified to the next edition of the Champions League, while Alavés, with this equality, reached Girona (plays Monday against Mallorca) and was just three points above Las Palmas, last to fall in a area of descent to the Second Division and that will later receive Valencia.
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