UEFA Confirm Why Kylian Mbappe Real Madrid Penalty vs Arsenal Was Cancelled

Real Madrid must have thought their comeback was on when they were awarded a penalty against Arsenal early on during the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday night, but the decision was reversed after a lengthy VAR check and now we know why.

The Gunners had the chance to put the tie to bed and stretch their lead to 4-0 on aggregate, after beating Los Blancos 3-0 in the reverse fixture last week, but Bukayo Saka missed from the spot when he tried a Panenka penalty and was left with egg on his face. The Englishman will have been fearing the worst too when Madrid were awarded a spot kick of their own shortly afterwards.

Declan Rice was judged to have brought Kylian Mbappe down inside the Arsenal area, but then VAR was called into action. They decided to take a look at the incident and look they certainly did as they spent over five minutes deliberating on a decision. The penalty was ultimately taken away from Madrid, though, and now we know why.

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VAR Determined Rice Didn’t Foul Mbappe

They were also checking whether it was offside

Once VAR came into play, the incident was analysed for over five minutes. They looked at whether it was a foul, but they also checked whether Mbappe had been in an offside position. Eventually, they advised referee Francois Letexier to head to the monitor and take a closer look himself.

After doing so, he decided to reverse his initial decision and not give Madrid a penalty and fans were left wondering why. Now, it’s been confirmed that it was due to the officials deciding that Rice didn’t actually foul Mbappe in the box and it was nothing to do with a potential offside in the end. The call was revealed in the Santiago Bernabeu and an explanation was offered on the screens inside the arena, declaring Rice hadn’t fouled anyone. As a result of the decision, the yellow card shown to the Arsenal midfielder was rescinded and he won’t be suspended for the semi-final of the Champions League should Mikel Arteta’s men hold on and advance.