"Mayor of Madrid" Supports Arsenal, Criticizes Those Blocking UCL Final Spot, Claims It Was Pre-Planned (Video)" and Tags: ["sports", "football", "UEFA Champions League", "Atletico Madrid", "Arsenal", "Madrid"]
On 7 May 2026 GMT+7, José Luis Martínez Almeida, the Mayor of Madrid, gave an angry interview after Atletico Madrid lost to Arsenal and was eliminated in the UEFA Champions League 2025-26 semifinals, missing the chance to compete for the club's first European title.
In the second leg of the semifinals, Arsenal narrowly defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0, winning 2-1 on aggregate to advance to the final against the defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, who had beaten Bayern Munich after a 1-1 draw in the second leg, progressing 6-5 on aggregate.
José Luis Martínez Almeida, a devoted Atletico Madrid fan, was upset over two penalty incidents that were not awarded, both likely fouls by Arsenal players: in the 51st minute, when Juliano Simeone was pulled down by Gabriel Magalhães, and in the 56th minute, when Antoine Griezmann was fouled from behind by Riccardo Calafiori.
The Mayor of Madrid stated that UEFA preferred Arsenal to reach the final rather than Atletico Madrid and thus assigned German referees to officiate the match, led by on-field referee Daniel Siebert and VAR official Bastian Dankert. He suggested that this was because Germany and Spain are competing for an extra fifth Champions League spot.
José Luis Martínez Almeida elaborated, "When I saw the draw results, I thought we would face Arsenal, but I was wrong. We had to play against UEFA, and UEFA clearly showed they did not want Atletico Madrid to reach the Champions League final."
"It's hard to understand why they appointed German referees while Spain and Germany are competing for the fifth Champions League spot. Who else but UEFA would appoint German officials as both the main referee and the VAR?"
"Yesterday, there were moments where the decisions were not due to poor refereeing but, in my opinion, were premeditated to harm Atletico Madrid."
"It's hard to understand why there was no slow-motion replay even once during the offside call on Juliano, although it was a clear penalty. Later, social media showed it was not offside. In a match with many broadcast cameras, why didn't the crew show slow-motion to check if it was offside or not? Because it wasn't offside, yet they refused to acknowledge it."
"It was very clear that the referee blew the whistle immediately when Griezmann fell. The foul on Pubill should not have been called, and the added time clearly showed the referee wanted the game to end as soon as possible, wanting Arsenal to go to Budapest instead of Atletico Madrid."