UEFA has rejected a complaint lodged by FC Barcelona over a disputed handball incident in their Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid.
Diego Simeone’s side secured a 2–0 win at Camp Nou last week, with Barcelona angered by an incident involving Atletico defender Marc Pubill, who appeared to handle the ball after a goal-kick situation.
“(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,” UEFA said in a statement.
The five-time Champions League winners described the non-award of a penalty as a “major error” that influenced the outcome and also expressed frustration that referee Istvan Kovacs was not asked to review the incident by the VAR team.
The decision comes just hours before the second leg of the tie.