Barcelona's Lamine Yamal in action with Atletico Madrid's Marc Pubill in the first leg to their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal [Nacho Doce/Reuters]By AFPPublished On 14 Apr 202614 Apr 2026European football governing body UEFA on Tuesday rejected Barcelona’s complaint over a handball incident in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg defeat by Atletico Madrid, hours before the second leg.
Diego Simeone’s side won 2-0 at Camp Nou last week, and Barca were upset by an incident where Atletico defender Marc Pubill touched the ball with his hand after it appeared a goal kick had been passed to him.
“(After the first leg) Barcelona filed a protest relating to a referee decision. On 13 April 2026, the UEFA Control Ethics and Disciplinary Body declared the protest to be inadmissible,” said UEFA in a statement.
Five-time Champions League winners Barca said last week the decision not to award them a penalty was a “major error” which influenced the result, and were upset referee Istvan Kovacs was not told to review the incident by the VAR team.
