Ismael Bennacer was dumbfounded after seeing that VAR should’ve revoked the Atletico Madrid penalty. ‘I don’t understand…’
The Rossoneri were dominant and took the lead through Rafael Leao, who also hit the frame of the goal, but the game changed when Franck Kessie received a harsh second yellow card after just 29 minutes.
Despite being down to 10 men for over an hour, as the game ultimately lasted 100 minutes with stoppages, they held out and barely allowed a shot on target until Antoine Griezmann’s equaliser at the 84th and the contentious Luis Suarez penalty deep into stoppages.
“When you lose like that, even if we gave our all, these big games are decided by the tiny details. Those are what made the difference and it hurts to lose like that,” Bennacer told Sport Mediaset.
Champions League | Milan 1-2 Atletico Madrid: Rossoneri couldn’t give more
He was shown footage confirming Thomas Lemar definitely handled before Pierre Kalulu, so the penalty should’ve been revoked via VAR.
“When I talk about this, I mean everything that happened. I don’t understand, there is VAR, they make the decision. I don’t know what to say…
“We can’t do anything about it, we have to get our heads down and be concentrated on the next game.”
Luis Suarez from the penalty spot in the 97th minute for Atletico Madrid to win it! ✅
His first Champions League goal for the club, ending a run of 25 away games in the competition without scoring…
Cool as you like 🥶#UCL pic.twitter.com/Ap88b3dg32
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 28, 2021
I admit to being biased and rooting for Milan, but watching the game live and seeing the replays, it looked like Lemar pushed the ball into Kalulu. At the very least, VAR could’ve revealed that the handball on Milan wasn’t unequivocal. Was total BS this call with an agenda to make it so Milan lost. Such a terrible way to lose.
Unfortunately these have been the decisions that have gone against Italian teams for over a decade. The UCL is not a level playing field when it comes to refereeing decisions – you only have to look at Real Madrid’s soft penalty tonight. I am a Juve supporter, but Milan deserved to win even with 10 men – Atletico were absolute rubbish and didn’t deserve a draw let alone the win. This ref has a reputation for incompetence and he once again showed it tonight. Before the game I told my sons that he is one of the worst referees around and will have a big say in the result – and sure enough….
Totally agree, Frankie. I’m done with these corrupt UEFA competitions. Too many people have their head in the sand and just write off complaints as being the work of fans who are angry that their team has lost. I’ve been watching this competition as a neutral for many years now, and my level of suspicion has just gone up, up and up with every season. On any given day, a refereeing performance can go badly wrong, and this will always be used as an excuse. But when there are consistent patterns year after year after year, benefiting the same teams again and again, something is wrong. One only needs to go through the history of Real Madrid games in this tournament to see that it is not a level playing field.
Now, of course, we even have VAR, another layer of control for UEFA, and another means to influence results in their favour.
Bennacer was man of the match imo. What a performance.
UEFA is being controlled by the English FA & the English FA hates Italian football because we are their biggest threat.
Bonucci the boss – very good point about VAR. It absolutely does add another lever for UEFA to control the result of games.
Meanwhile in Serie A, Mlanisti trying to convince themselves and everyone else that getting 20 penalties in 38 games is completely normal.
I’m a Milan fan thru & thru. Yes, the lack of a warning to Kessie was harsh. Bottom line…that Turkish ref runs a tight ship…always has. You need to adjust accordingly re: tackles. Its part of being a professional and game managing according to how the ref will call things. That being said…the ref and VAR did not have a stellar evening. Forza Rossoneri…let’s quit whining and get ready for Atalanta.
Kessie is playing his last season for us after yesterday…it will be a factor in any future contract discussions now.