Atletico Madrid president, Enrique Cerezo has hit back at Real Madrid goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, asking the former Chelsea man to shut up.
Cerezo was reacting to the Belgian’s criticism of Atletico Madrid’s response to a controversial VAR decision in last week’s UEFA Champions League Round of sixteen meeting with Real Madrid.
The Spanish city rivals met in the llast sixteen of the competition with Los Blancos going through after a penalty shootout after a 2-2 scoreline on aggregate across two legs.
The high point of the game came during the penalty shootout when Julian Alvarez’s spot-kick was cancelled.
The Argentina International was adjudged to have nudged the ball lightly with one foot, before he scored with the other.
The d3cision angered Atletico players and staff but Courtois played down his former club’s protests, saying, “I’m tired of the eternal sacrificial mentality where they always have to cry over such things.”
Cerezo, not impressed, shot back at Courtois.
The Atleti president said (via Tribal Football):
“Courtois has to shut up. He should be grateful to have been with Atletico Madrid. He must do as he did with us – be a gentleman.”
Courtois was with Atletico Madrid for three seasons on loan at Atletico from Chelsea.
About the incident, Cerezo added, “I don’t like VAR, but I’m not just saying that now; I’ve always said it. I’m not criticizing VAR for the other day’s error. Because it’s not the referee’s error, it’s the VAR’s error.
“I don’t know where they saw that the ball touched a player’s leg twice. VAR is a conflicting tool, it’s unsafe, and above all, we all believe it was introduced to make football fairer, but I believe it’s been introduced to make it more unfair.”
