Credit: Imago, TNT Sports

Oliver Walton

Thu 19 March 2026 10:28, UK

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Tottenham Hotspur star Xavi Simons was not fouled by Julian Alvarez in the build-up to Atletico Madrid’s first goal in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Former PGMOL chief and FIFA referee Keith Hackett has exclusively told Football Insider that referee Daniel Siebert made the right call to play on as Atletico broke forward to score.

Simons was lining up a shot from the edge of Atletico’s box in the 47th minute before he went down under challenge from Alvarez.

Siebert waved play on, despite the Dutchman’s protests, and a slick counter-attacking move saw Ademola Lookman find the Argentine striker on the edge of the Spurs area as he swivelled and fired the ball past Guglielmo Vicario.

The game ended 3-2 to the hosts ahead of Tottenham’s huge next match against Nottingham Forest, but they still felt hard done by that Alvarez’s strike was allowed to count.

Keith Hackett explains that Xavi Simons went to ground too easily

Simons was the hero for Spurs on the night as his brace fired Igor Tudor’s side to a much-needed 3-2 win, even though they lost 7-5 on aggregate.

Randal Kolo Muani had put the hosts ahead before Alvarez’s equaliser, with Simons’ two goals coming between another Atleti leveller from David Hancko.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Alvarez on Simons incident, ex-refs chief Hackett insisted that the referee had made the correct call to play on, and VAR were right not to get involved.

He said: “Football is a contact sport and I do think that the Spurs player went to ground too easily.

“I support the referee’s decision not to blow for a foul and to allow play to continue. Correct to allow the goal to count.”

What did Tudor say about the Simons incident?

Tottenham boss Tudor will have been happy with his side’s performance, but he challenged referee Siebert’s decision to play on after the challenge by Alvarez.

The Croatian manager explained his view on the incident to the media after the match, saying: “The foul on Xavi…the referee didn’t give us an obvious foul. That changed the game a little bit.”

In the end, his team did enough to win the game and give themselves a huge confidence boost, ahead of what can only be described as a relegation six-pointer against Forest this weekend.