Mark Clattenburg leaves Liverpool fans fuming with suggestion during commentary (original) (raw)
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg joined Amazon Prime for the broadcaster's coverage of AC Milan vs Liverpool and didn't endear himself to Reds supporters
Fans didn't agree with Mark Clattenburg's comments
Liverpool fans were furious with Mark Clattenburg's game management ideas during their Champions League win away to AC Milan on Tuesday night.
Clattenburg, who served as a Premier League official for a number of years, was brought in to add a referee's perspective to Amazon Prime's coverage. The broadcaster has the rights to a number of matches in this season's Champions League, with the Reds' game at the San Siro the first in the expanded league phase to get the treatment.
It was a fast-starting affair, with Christian Pulisic putting Milan ahead inside three minutes and Ibrahima Konate equalising midway through the first half. There was a fiery atmosphere, too, with the home crowd letting Norwegian referee Espen Eskas know how they felt.
Clattenburg suggested Eskas could have calmed the crowd down by giving free-kicks to the hosts for close decisions after opting against doing so early on. This wasn't received too kindly by some watching on TV, though.
"I think the first one is definitely a free-kick," Clattenburg said after one of those tight early calls. "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."
Liverpool fans didn't take too kindly to the argument. "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," wrote one, while another said "This isn't Gladiators" - a reference to the BBC light entertainment show which Clattenburg joined as a referee for its 2024 revival.
Would you have followed Clattenburg's advice? Have your say in the comments section
Liverpool beat AC Milan despite going behind early on (
Image:
Getty Images)
Despite trailing early on, Liverpool ended up having too much for their opponents. Virgil van Dijk headed Arne Slot's team in front before half-time, with Dominik Szoboszlai making victory safe after the break, putting Saturday's defeat against Nottingham Forest behind them.
"I think we were a bit disappointed with the result against Nottingham Forest [but] we were also disappointed from getting eight corner kicks and not scoring, but we were very close," Slot said after seeing Konate and Van Dijk score from set-pieces. "We felt with all the work we put in on set-pieces that at some moment we should get the reward.
"I think [it was] two very good set-pieces and two very good headers that got us two goals, which was important because I think we were very comfortable on the ball, pressed really well, but in the end you need goals as well. We hit the crossbar a few times today out of open play, so we needed set-pieces and it was good to see that we scored them for all the work my assistants and the players put in. It is nice to see it got rewarded today."
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