Diego Simeone had patrolled the touchline all in black, heart racing and arms waving, applying all the pressure he could, seeking to impart his justice, as Danny Makkelie went to the pitchside monitor to make the decision that could have decided this game. Now, as the referee crossed the line back on to the pitch, signalling that there would not be a second penalty for Arsenal after all, Atlético Madrid’s manager followed him. There on the pitch, the force with which he pushed Dávid Hancko and Johnny Cardoso and the volume of the roar from around this stadium, spoke of relief, some kind of redemption.
In the end, then, this was a tale of two penalties, not three. On a night of extreme tension and tiny margins, Viktor Gyökeres and Julián Alvarez scored theirs; Leandro Trossard didn’t get the chance to take his, if it even was going to be his. He had stood by the spot, ball under his arm, waiting, but upon second glance – or third or fourth or 13th– Makkelie decided that Hancko’s challenge on Eberechi Eze, studs on boot, was not enough. Hancko, who had given away the first penalty too, had escaped punishment, apart from Simeone’s shove.
