🤔 Marseille director slams penalty for Real, fans online react | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille ended up defeated, 2-1, by Real Madrid, who came from behind, this Tuesday (17), at the Santiago Bernabéu, in the opening of the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League.

The most talked-about moment of the match was the penalty awarded at the 33rd minute of the second half, converted by Mbappé, which gave the Spanish team the victory.

The refereeing decision, led on the field by Irfan Peljto, sparked a strong reaction on social media, as well as from the French club's sporting director, Mehdi Benatia.

Former defender Benatia recalled a similar episode in his career, also against Real Madrid, in 2018, when he played for Juventus. “It’s a very hard penalty to accept, but I’ve lived through this seven years ago. The feeling is the same,” he declared.

In that quarter-final clash, Juve was overturning the 3-0 defeat suffered in Turin, but fell to a controversial penalty awarded in stoppage time.

The current incident happened during a challenge by Vinicius Jr. inside the box. The ball bounced on the pitch and hit the left arm of Medina, the Olympique defender.

The penalty reignited memories of the episode when Benatia tried to dispossess Lucas Vázquez in the 93rd minute and was penalized.

On that occasion, Gianluigi Buffon ended up sent off after fiercely protesting against referee Michael Oliver, calling the decision absurd.

Roberto De Zerbi, coach of Olympique, also criticized the call.

For him, the play was “a bit shameful,” although he dismissed the idea that the decision was to compensate for Carvajal’s sending off, eight minutes earlier, after a VAR review for aggression against goalkeeper Rulli.

“I would say the same if it were in our favor. It’s not a penalty. But I don’t believe in compensation theory,” said the coach.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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