ANGEL CORREA will never have a more bewildering goal celebration.
The winger was mobbed on the bench by Atletico Madrid after being taken off – as VAR eventually awarded him a goal that had been ruled out.
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Correa brilliantly thumped home a rebound opener on the hour in Saturday’s 1-1 home LaLiga draw with Getafe.
But it was erased for offside and the Argentinian was promptly replaced by Yannick Carrasco.
Correa put on a jacket as he settled back on the bench, while referee Antonio Mateu waited for a replay amid confusion and a lengthy delay on the pitch.
Mateu at last overturned his no-goal verdict – sending Atletico players racing off the pitch to bury the seated Correa in a sea of hugs.
The 27-year-old finally scrambled up to take the cheers of the crowd and rejoice in a more conventional way on the touchline.
And fans on social media were as stunned as Diego Simeone’s men by the bemusing incident.
One said: “It’s the wildest thing I’ve seen since a pen was awarded to Sevilla in a play that originally ended in a Real Madrid goal two seasons ago.”
That was a slightly-incorrect reference to ex-Barcelona hero Ivan Rakitic notching a spot-kick in May 2021 to help ruin Real Madrid’s title dream that season.
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Real striker Karim Benzema was set to win a penalty after being pulled down by Yassine Bounou.
But replays rolled play back to the other end to spot a handball from Eder Militao in his own box as Sevilla went on to earn a 2-2 draw.
It also sparked bemusement as some observers made points like: “I thought substitution was not allowed during VAR review.”
But one fan responded: “He got subbed THEN the VAR guys let the ref know ‘hey we may need to check this out’.
“Correa was already in his jacket getting warm by the time they decided to review it. While it was live it didn’t look like they were going to review it.”
Correa had earlier missed a sitter as fourth-placed Atletico struggled to break second-bottom Getafe down.
And the visitors snatched a shock point on 83 minutes when Saul Niguez handled, enabling Enes Unal to level from the spot.
Atletico chief Simeone said: “We went ahead after a huge effort, against a team that defended well and shut off the avenues to goal.
“We tried in every way, we played the game we wanted to play, we couldn’t get the second goal which allows you to be more calm and then something happened that can happen in a game, an isolated move, a penalty where there wasn’t any danger.”
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