Declan Rice was quick to plead his innocence after match referee Francois Letexier had awarded Real Madrid a penalty against Arsenal. It was the second time the Frenchman had pointed to the spot in the game after just 25 minutes.
Bukayo Saka missed from 12 yards when his underhit effort was easily saved by Thibaut Courtois early on. That came following a short VAR review.
Raul Asencio was adjudged to have pulled down Mikel Merino as Courtois caught an inswinging corner from Rice. Madrid were soon protesting again as another pitchside check from Letexier ruled out their own penalty.
Rice was initially said to have fouled Kylian Mbappe at the back post. The decision was immediately the centre of wild complaints from the Arsenal players, none more so than Rice.
“I didn’t touch him!” Rice said with his hands in the air. Turning towards Mbappe and the referee, Rice continued to fight his corner as a five-minute review followed.
On commentary, both Rio Ferdinand and Ally McCoist agreed with the eventual call to overturn the penalty. “If there wasn’t a penalty earlier that wouldn’t be given,” Ferdinand said on TNT Sports.
Rice had been booked following the foul and that would have seen him miss the first leg of the semi-final, if Arsenal get there. However, the yellow card was rescinded and that left Rice back on the right side of the threshold.
Yellow cards accumulated throughout the competition are wiped after the quarter-final stage but any suspensions picked up before the semi-finals do carry over. This is the first game Letexier has refereed involving Arsenal.
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