
Polish referee Szymon Marciniak has been thrust into the spotlight again after Atletico Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League. It was Real Madrid who advanced to the quarter-finals, this time after a penalty shootout after 210 minutes ended with the score 2-2.
Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez scored from the penalty spot, but VAR stepped in and with their intervention, the Polish referee disallowed the goal, claiming that the Argentine had made a double touch at the moment of the shot.
Aquí una mejor toma del polemico penal de Julián Álvarez.
— Antonio de Valdés (@adevaldes) March 13, 2025
Toca el balón dos veces??
pic.twitter.com/VAyoETd9lV
If we go back to the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, Lionel Messi did the same thing from 11 meters during regular play and ironically the referee was again Szymon Marciniak.
In the Qatar episode, VAR seems not to have been so attentive and Messi has his name on the list of goal scorers, while in the Champions League a different standard was used.
Fans online are unforgiving and the comments are numerous and varied, with the only fact that no one is undoing Atl. Madrid's elimination from the Champions League.
Szymon Marciniak, the referee of the derby did not cancel this penalty of Messi in the final of the 2022 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/GBmW66SdF2
— Álvaro Villacañas (@alvarovt_8) March 12, 2025