Atletico Madrid 0-0 Lokomotiv Moscow: VAR denies Koke as Simeone's men are held

Madrid, November 26: Atletico Madrid's chances of finishing top of Champions League Group A are over after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Lokomotiv Moscow, with Koke having a goal ruled out by VAR.

Diego Simeone's side – without star forward Luis Suarez after the Uruguay international tested positive for coronavirus – needed to win on Wednesday in order to keep slim hopes of pipping holders Bayern Munich to top spot alive.

Yet, despite a bright start in which Joao Felix and Yannick Carrasco went close, Atleti failed to overcome their Russian opponents for a second successive match.

Koke had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision, with Jose Gimenez heading wide late on as Atleti were frustrated.

Joao Felix should have put Atleti ahead in the third minute, only to slash at Marcos Llorente's low cut-back, with Carrasco's follow up flashing wide.

Llorente continued to wreak havoc down the right and teed up Angel Correa for a chance before he saw a thumping effort saved by Guilherme.

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Lokomotiv's goalkeeper denied Llorente again before the half-hour, moments after tipping a Carrasco shot wide.

Atleti thought they had the lead when Guilherme parried Carrasco's free-kick into Koke, who tucked home, but VAR disallowed the goal for part of Koke's shoulder being offside.

The officials had another big call to make in the 73rd minute, when Joao Felix went down under pressure from Dmitri Zhivoglyadov, though the replays clearly showed Atleti's number seven had engineered the contact.

Guilherme was caught in no man's land as he parried out to Stefan Savic, but his cushioned volley was headed clear.

Stanislav Magkeev subsequently let Atleti off the hook when he sliced wide on the counter, though Gimenez could not make it count when his 89th-minute header inched wide of the upright.