Girona fume after controversial non-awarding of penalty against Atletico Madrid

Girona lost ground in their pursuit of securing Champions League qualification on Saturday after losing 4-2 to fellow top four hopefuls Atletico Madrid. Artem Dovbyk scored inside five minutes to give the Catalans a great start, but goals from Antoine Griezmann (x2) and Angel Correa secured the points for the home side.

Correa made it 2-1 to Atleti just before the half time interval, but minutes before, with the match finely poised, Girona were adamant that they should’ve been awarded a penalty after Reinildo Mandava appeared to foul Savio just inside the penalty box. However, it wasn’t awarded on-field, and VAR also did not intervene, much to Michel Sanchez’s fury.

After the match, Girona manager Michel expressed his disbelief at VAR’s non-intervention, as per Diario AS.

“We’ve seen the images and, it’s not logical that the VAR doesn’t come in, at least so that the referee can see it again. It’s the biggest complaint we have, I understand that the referee can understand that it’s outside the box, that he stumbles, but the situation is very clear. For me, it’s a very clear penalty, an incredible kick.

“But they dominated after the 0-1, that wasn’t the game plan. We are left with the feeling that we could have done more. After the 3-1, they handled the situation well.”

Girona will hope that this moment does not have a significant say on their push for Champions League qualification, but there’s no doubt that they need to bounce back quickly from this setback.