Referee blows whistle, bad luck weighs heavily on the day Real Madrid becomes former champion

Having lost by three goals in the first leg in England last week, Real Madrid need to score four goals and not concede at the Bernabeu in the return leg to have any hope of progressing.

However, there was no "remontada" (Spanish for "comeback") like Barcelona did against PSG eight years ago…

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois blocked Saka's penalty kick

After goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois brilliantly blocked Bukayo Saka's penalty kick in the 9th minute, in the 23rd minute, it was the referee's turn to award the Bernabeu team a penalty because he thought Declan Rice had pulled down Kylian Mbappe in the Arsenal penalty area.

Arsenal reacted strongly to this decision and referee Francois Letexier had to ask the VAR team for careful consultation.

The foul was reviewed over and over again for nearly 5 minutes, with VAR even looking to see if Mbappe was offside before the "collision" with Declan Rice.

VAR intervenes, asks referee to deny Real Madrid's penalty

With 80,000 spectators waiting, referee Francois Letexier "blows the whistle", not giving Real Madrid a penalty because he determined that Rice's dragging situation was not enough to lead to a penalty, not to mention Mbappe was also offside. Declan Rice's yellow card was cleared, meaning he will not be suspended for the first leg of the semi-final.

The situation where Declan Rice is said to have pulled down Kylian Mbappe

Referee Francois Letexier and the VAR team handled both penalty situations fairly, but clearly, the French referee was very lenient with the home team.

In the 60th minute, centre-back Antonio Rudiger stepped on Myles Lewis-Skelly's stomach after the Arsenal defender was lying on the ground after being fouled by the German player.

The slow-motion replay was shown several times but the home defender escaped a booking because the referee did not consider the collision intentional. If the referee had been strict, Rudiger could have received enough yellow cards to send him off the field with his rough play.

British media also identified that Bukayo Saka – who was on the field many times in this match due to his malicious play – was the target of the home team's players.

After the first half ended, even though he was about to enter the tunnel, Saka was still approached by Dani Carvajal - a Real Madrid defender who was injured and could not play in the match - who spoke to him for a few sentences, then pulled his arm, even placing his hand on the back of the English striker's neck as if preparing to strangle him.

Saka shook Carvajal's hand and the two sides almost got into a fight if it weren't for his teammates and people around him stopping them.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/trong-tai-be-coi-van-rui-de-nang-ngay-real-madrid-thanh-cuu-vuong-196250417070752587.htm