Juventus Star Slams 'Unsurprising' Decision to Award Controversial Real Madrid Penalty
Giorgio Chiellini has claimed that nobody should be 'surprised' by Real Madrid's last-gasp penalty that ensured their progression to the Champions League semi finals.
The veteran Juventus star spoke to Italian news outlet Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) after his side's hearts were broken after Los Blancos' slender 4-3 two legged victory at the last eight stage.
Juventus had hauled themselves back level in the tie in stunning fashion as they scored three goals at Santiago Bernabeu - strikes that appeared to be taking the tie to extra time due to a 3-3 aggregate score.
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But Michael Oliver's decision to award Real a 93rd-minute penalty after Medhi Benatia had knocked Lucas Vazquez over in the box saw Cristiano Ronaldo thunder home from 12 yards to put Zinedine Zidane's men into the next round.
Chiellini helped lead the furious protests from I Bianconeri's stars amid the dramatic penalty award, and he continued to vent his anger at the decision in the aftermath of the game.
He angrily remarked: “It shouldn’t be surprising, Bayern Munich went through it last year and this was Juve’s turn,
“Between the first leg and this one, just about everything happened. It’s laughable that the Italian refereeing designator said things are going well in the Champions League.
“Nobody thought we could turn it around, but we believed and it’ll help us for the next Champions League campaigns. It’ll be an objective for the future.”
The Bayern remark was Chiellini's way of stating that Real were handed a cheap spot kick in their clash with the German giants last season too on their way to lifting the trophy against Juventus last May.
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The 34-year-old defender could face a UEFA charge after appearing to make a bribery hand gesture at Real centre-back Raphael Varane in the midst of the penalty incident too.
Club president Andrea Agnelli also joined the dissenting voices as he slammed Oliver's decision, and called for match officials to be more courageous in what they choose to give.
He said: “It wasn’t an issue of VAR, because the referee still needs to have courage and a conscience. The referee must try to be less of a protagonist and give only clear-cut decisions.
“You could tell at the time it wasn’t a penalty, but seeing the footage back it’s just laughable. We must remember that we beat Real Madrid 3-0 on their own turf and only a crazy person would’ve believed that going in. We could’ve scored five or six goals tonight, so we ought to be proud.”
