Hancko penalty denial joins Atlético's UEFA refereeing 'blacklist'

Rubén Uría hits out at the stamp on Hancko in the box that neither the referee nor VAR reviewed and that television never replayed, adding it to a long list of European refereeing decisions that have gone against Atlético.

Rubén Uría makes the penalty not given to David Hancko in Stuttgart his story of the day. The defender was stamped on the Achilles tendon inside the box and lay on the ground for close to a minute, yet, according to the presenter, neither the referee nor VAR chose to act. What angers him most is that the television broadcast did not show a single replay, not even a distant one.

For Uría, this is not an isolated incident but another link in a chain: Julián's double touch, the penalty given against Koke at home to Lille which, he says, nobody still understands why it was awarded, Correa's non-existent offside in Dortmund, Griezmann's red card against Liverpool at the Metropolitano just after Atleti had turned the tie around and, above all, the Milan final, which he describes as daylight robbery decided by an offside goal.

Then there was last season, when Atlético de Madrid suffered an appalling refereeing performance in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal. José Luís Martínez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, did not mince his words about the officiating in that second leg. He went as far as saying: "We ended up playing against UEFA, who didn't want Atlético de Madrid to be in the Champions League final."

Uría goes through several of the refereeing incidents that already make up Atlético's own 'blacklist' of moments in which UEFA officiating has hurt Atleti, and signs off with one line: that day only one team scored a legal goal, Atlético, and somebody else lifted the trophy.