Atletico Madrid's second goal ruled out for Llorente handball as United trail in Madrid

Atletico Madrid were denied a second goal by referee Glenn Nyberg after a VAR review ruled that Marcos Llorente had handled the ball in the build-up to Johnny Cardoso’s finish, preserving a 1-0 scoreline for the hosts against Manchester United in their Champions League meeting in Madrid.

Atletico had taken the lead inside the first minute through Pablo Barrios, and appeared to have doubled their advantage when Cardoso swept the ball into the net. Nyberg, however, overturned the goal on the field following consultation with VAR, determining that Llorente’s touch was deliberate under the current handball guidelines.

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg offered his analysis of the call. “There’s no doubt that the ball does touch the hand — it’s deliberate because he doesn’t score direct from that action, he’s passed it to his team-mate, so it has to be a deliberate action,” Clattenburg said.

“The referee has to decide: is it deliberate or not? What the VARs and the referees have discussed over the summer is, does the player get an advantage from the handball? Here, he does, because he gets past the Manchester United defender. The action does take a movement towards the box, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this was disallowed for handball.”

The decision provided United with a lifeline at a ground where Atletico are notoriously difficult to break down, though Ruben Amorim’s side still faced the task of overturning the deficit with the match ongoing.