Mark Clattenburg claimed Champions League referee Espen Eskas should have awarded AC Milan more free-kicks against Liverpool to calm down the home crowd.
On Tuesday night, Arne Slot’s side found themselves 1-0 down early on at San Siro after former Chelsea star Christian Pulisic put Milan ahead on three minutes. However, the Reds fought back, flipping the script with goals from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk handing Liverpool a 2-1 lead heading into the break.
And from there, they went on to wrap up proceedings on 67 minutes through Dominik Szoboszlai who turned home Cody Gakpo’s cross to make it 3-1 to the Reds. But it was the comments of former Premier League referee Clattenburg that raised eyebrows.
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During the Amazon Prime broadcast of the clash, former Newcastle United striker turned pundit Alan Shearer remarked he was impressed by Eskas and how he was not over awed or influenced by the occasion.
“He certainly hasn’t been influenced by this crowd, they don’t half make some noise at every decision they want,” Shearer said. “He hasn’t been influenced at all. I think he is just evening it up there isn’t he. If he didn’t give the first one then he’s not giving that one.”
What did you make of Clattenburg’s claims? Let us know in the comments section below
(Image: Getty)
However, that then prompted Clattenburg to drop a bombshell on Liverpool fans by claiming Eskas needed to start dishing out free-kicks to Milan in order to “calm the crowd down” at San Siro, reports the Liverpool Echo.
“I think the first one is definitely a free-kick,” Clattenburg said of a decision made by Eskas, who dished out five yellow cards, including one for Milan boss Paulo Fonseca.
“I just think he needs to calm the crowd down, the crowd are against him. They have been putting pressure on him, we saw that with the penalty shout before that. I think the ref just needs to give one or two small fouls to get the judgement back.”
(Image: Kieran Galvin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Both Shearer and commentator Jon Champion fell silent – presumably baffled by the wild claim – which also left Liverpool supporters on social media raging.
One fan wrote: “Mark Clattenburg just said the ref should give a couple of ‘small fouls’ in Milan’s favour to calm the crowd down. He was a Premier League ref for 13 years.” They added: “He’s then subsequently doubled and tripled down on it when given the opportunity to retract.”
A third said: “It’s mental, I couldn’t believe it when he said that.” A fourth commented: “Commentators went silent for 30 seconds after he said that stunned.”
And a fifth added: “What on earth is Clattenburg talking about?? Give Milan some cheap freekicks to get the crowd back onside? It’s not Gladiators you silly c***.”