The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has made some incredible claims after Atletico Madrid were knockout of the Champions League.
Atleti lost 1-0 to Arsenal in the second leg of their semi-final, exiting the competition after a 1-1 draw.
Despite the game being relatively dull, the flashpoints came with refereeing calls that left Atleti feeling hard done by.
In fact, no one felt worse than the mayor, who is a supporter of the club.
Speaking at a development event in Madrid, he was asked about the match and made some strong allegations.
Madrid mayor fumes at UEFA
“Well, look, what I’m saying is that when I saw the draw, I thought we’d get Arsenal, and I was wrong,” he began.
“We got to play against UEFA. And UEFA has made it clear that they didn’t want Atlético de Madrid in the Champions League final.”
Martínez-Almeida backed up his claims by suggesting the game shouldn’t have had a German referee when Spain are battling Germany for a fifth spot in the competition next season.
He continued: “It’s incomprehensible that they appointed a German referee when Spain and Germany are playing for the fifth Champions League spot.
“Who, other than UEFA, would think of appointing a German referee as both the main referee and the VAR referee?
“And yesterday there were plays that weren’t due to the referee being more or less bad, but in my opinion, to a predetermined decision aimed at harming Atlético de Madrid.”
Citing multiple incidents, he said of potential Calafiori foul Giuliano Simeone in the box: “It’s incomprehensible that there isn’t a single replay of Giuliano’s offside, when it was a clear penalty.
“We later saw on social media that it wasn’t offside and that he left his own half.
“In a match broadcast by so many television cameras, why didn’t the production team show a replay to determine whether it was offside or not?
“Because it wasn’t offside, and they refused to admit it.”
He added of a foul on Antoine Griezmann: “It’s blatant, the referee blows his whistle once Griezmann falls, Pubill’s foul doesn’t exist and therefore…
“Then the added time is clear proof that the referee wanted the match to end as quickly as possible and for Arsenal to go to Budapest instead of Atlético Madrid.”
He finished: “I think we Atlético fans are proud of our team because they competed, not against Arsenal, but against UEFA.
“You can beat Arsenal over 180 minutes, but you can’t beat UEFA. And UEFA set in motion the entire machinery to prevent Atlético de Madrid from advancing in yesterday’s match, and the referee was the one who carried out that will.
“There’s intent, in my opinion. I insist, Arsenal could have been beaten, we couldn’t beat the UEFA Cup and it was impossible to beat it.
“We drew the UEFA Cup, not Arsenal, in the draw to go to Budapest.”
Leave a Reply