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During Amazon Prime Sport’s coverage of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League, former referee Mark Clattenburg made an eye-opening claim.
The Reds saw off their Italian opposition at the San Siro to start the revamped Champions League in style, as one of six clubs to win on opening night.
Selected for broadcast by Amazon Prime Sport, the coverage included input from ex-Premier League referee Clattenburg, who weighed in on certain decisions.
In the space of eight seconds around the hour mark, Milan left-back Theo Hernandez was brought down by Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch before Cody Gakpo was fouled by Christian Pulisic and Youssouf Fofana.
Neither were given as a free-kick to which co-commentator Alan Shearer said: “I think he’s just evening it up there, isn’t he?”
In response, Clattenburg added: “I think the first one is definitely a free-kick. I think he just needs to calm the crowd down, the crowd are against him, it’s been putting pressure on him.
“I think the referee needs to give one or two small fouls to get the judgement back.”
The notion of a referee choosing when or when not to call fouls in order to manage the atmosphere left Liverpool fans – and fans of other clubs – stunned:
Mark Clattenburg showing exactly the type of mindset that gets referees grief
“He’s lost the crowd, he needs to give one or two small fouls to get them back onside”
No you don’t, It’s your job to ref what you see, the crowd doesn’t come into it
— R (@_winnett) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg there suggesting the ref should give some fouls to the home team to calm the crowd down??
This is the brain of the average Fergie-era referee.
— ??ave (@Bavew97) September 17, 2024
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.
— barry (@BackseatsmanLFC) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg saying ‘the ref needs to give Milan some fouls to win the crowd back’ tells you everything you need to know about Premier League refereeing.
— Anfield Online (@anfieldonline) September 17, 2024
Weirdest moment of last night – Mark Clattenburg saying he’d just give some free kicks to get the crowd back on his side, tells you everything you need to about FA referees
— Dinesh Kumar (@DHardayal) September 18, 2024
What Clattenburg has just said is all that is wrong with English refereeing
— Mike W (@MW92_) September 17, 2024
What Clattenburg said then about giving fouls to abate the crowd is exactly why so many referees are incompetent.
— Rich (@RichRance) September 17, 2024
Mark Clattenburg has just said the ref needs to purposely give Milan free kicks to get the fans on his side……..
Absolutely fucking unbelievable… This is exactly fucking why a United got every single decision their way for so many years. Literal cheating.
— Rhys (@rhys_jb) September 17, 2024
Did ex ref mark clattenburg just say to give a couple of soft fouls to the home team to get the crowd back on side and calm them down??! What clause is that in the rule book??!
— phillColeman (@phillColeman) September 17, 2024
Forgot I was watching the referee vs San Siro, shut up Clattenburg
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) September 17, 2024
Did I hear Clattenburg right there? pic.twitter.com/2r92UyOk56
— The Redmen TV (@TheRedmenTV) September 17, 2024
It is no secret by now that referees are influenced by the crowd, with statistics showing that officials are often more likely to grant decisions to home teams.
Clattenburg’s comments shed further light on this, implying that referees should, and do, overlook certain fouls in order to navigate tricky atmospheres – as was the case on Tuesday night in a baying San Siro.
While this may be sensible in order to avoid any situations bubbling over, this certainly questions the integrity of officials on the biggest stages.
Fortunately, there was no major impact on the balance of the game – though whether Milan fans would agree remains to be seen!
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