Bitterly eliminated from FIFA Club World Cup 2025, Atletico coach blames referee

TPO - Coach Diego Simeone considers the referee to be part of the reason why Atletico Madrid could not win the necessary victory against Botafogo, thereby being eliminated in an unpleasant manner.

Early this morning in the match against Botafogo, Atletico Madrid was under pressure to win by 3 goals or more to advance. Because they were at a disadvantage compared to PSG as well as Botafogo in terms of additional indexes.

In fact, Atletico Madrid pressed the opponent fiercely, especially in the second half with superior statistics (twice as much possession, four times as many shots). Among the countless opportunities they created, there was a situation in the 44th minute when Julian Alvarez fell in the penalty area. The referee consulted VAR to consider a penalty for Atletico Madrid, but in the end, he thought the collision was not enough to warrant a penalty. Before that, in the 25th minute, Atletico Madrid also asked for a penalty but the referee waved it off.

Diego Simeone congratulates his opponents for advancing

With those decisions, coach Diego Simeone said the referee had caused a big disadvantage for his team: “Today, we created opportunities to take the lead. In the VAR reference situation, the referee did not think it was a penalty but the situation was very clear. It should have been a penalty for us. That was a disadvantage for Atletico Madrid.

I don't want to focus too much on the situation where we missed the penalty. Instead, I congratulate the opponent because they played very well. Botafogo played with good spirit, defended properly. When you do that, the chances of winning are clearly higher."

However, Simeone still had to admit that Atletico Madrid's elimination was their own fault, after losing 0-4 to PSG. "I'm disappointed that Atletico couldn't go through. Winning 6 points is not bad. The turning point probably came from the match we lost 0-4 to PSG. In that match, every refereeing decision seemed to be unfavorable to us."

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Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bi-loai-cay-dang-tai-fifa-club-world-cup-2025-hlv-atletico-do-loi-trong-tai-post1753933.tpo