Atletico players lash out as Ben White commits modern football’s ultimate sin
Atletico Madrid’s players took issue with Arsenal’s Ben White daring to step on a club badge that was placed directly on the floor leading to the tunnel.
As Rio Ferdinand once pointed out, there is a weird respect thing about not standing on a club badge which is fair enough if that club badge had not been made into a massive rug put right in front of the tunnel.
Such a piece is most common in Spain and after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Atletico, Ben White committed the unforgivable crime of walking in a straight line towards the tunnel.
In doing so, he stepped on the Atletico badge which set the home team off starting with what looks like a physio.
Giuliano Simeone then takes issue and confronts White, pointing to the badge which leads to the two players fronting each other up just inside the tunnel.
In steps Diego Simeone who is never one to miss an opportunity and the Atleti boss is seen tapping White on the shoulder, seemingly harder every time.
BEN WHITE STEPS ON ATLETI CREST AND SIMEONE REACTS 🚨🚨
On his way to the tunnel, the Arsenal defender accidentally stepped on the club’s badge, and Simeone immediately called him out 🗣️
Was it disrespectful or just a mistake? 🤔#BenWhite #AtleticoMadrid #Arsenal #UCL pic.twitter.com/9lzBQpGIkZ
— MARCA in English 🇺🇸 (@MARCAinENGLISH) April 29, 2026
White is not happy with that either and the two parties have to be separated as they head into the tunnel.
All the while, Declan Rice walks over the badge without a single person noticing, almost as if it doesn’t matter in any way.
The concept of not stepping on a massive badge placed directly in your way is a Spanish one and there is plenty of history of it.
Who could forget Rio Ferdinand getting his social media intern to film him intentionally avoiding Madrid’s one at the Bernabeu? The Madrid players have also done it, most notably at the Etihad when they avoided the City badge despite it being directly in the middle of quite a narrow carpeted tunnel.
The incident will likely not live long in the memory for either set of players but for Arsenal, an overturned penalty will have caused more upset.
After a foul on Eberechi Eze was revoked, Mikel Arteta fumed at the decision.
“We were disappointed for the Atletico penalty,” Arteta said. “In the Premier League, it’s not a penalty but here I have to accept that with the rules and how consistent they’ve been, I accept that this is a handball.
“What I’m incredibly fuming with is how the hell the penalty on Ebs gets overturned in the manner that it happened when there is no clear and obvious error. This changes the course of the game. And at this level, I’m sorry but this cannot happen.
“A very clear explanation of the decision is what happens for a period of time [when] a referee has to watch it 13 times. What’s more clear than that? It’s impossible and we are all fuming about it. We need to apply the rules … [the way] they applied the rules on Ben White’s penalty.
“When you have fought so hard for nine months to be in this position … I mean, that’s another goal that changed completely the course of the tie. And it cannot happen. We put so much on it. So, so, so much on it. This cannot happen.”
By Sam Cooper
READ NEXT: 10 times Rio Ferdinand was football punditry’s answer to Alan Partridge
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Arsenal player to have scored in the Champions League?