The referee awarded a penalty against Real Madrid two minutes after the foul
Ileana Sanchez
Dailysports's expert
Real Madrid could have put themselves in a difficult position in the second UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal from the very start of the game.
However, Real's chances could have diminished to almost zero as early as the eleventh minute when the referee awarded a penalty against the Madrid club.
Notably, there was a two-minute delay between the foul and the referee's blow of the whistle to signal the penalty.
At 8:11 on the clock during Arsenal's corner in Real's penalty area, Raul Asensio held Mikel Merino with his hands. This incident was outside the context of the struggle for the ball. But two minutes later (9:29 on the stopwatch), the VAR officials sent the main referee François Letexier to review the replay of the episode. After watching, the French referee pointed to the penalty spot (10:09 on the stopwatch).
It took two minutes to stop the game and resolve the penalty situation.
However, Arsenal failed to capitalize on the chance to open the scoring: Bukayo Saka could not outsmart Thibaut Courtois.
Recall that the first meeting of the opponents ended with a 3-0 victory for the "Gunners," so the "Merengues" need to score at least three in response to at least take the game into overtime.
