Mark Clattenburg reveals how he silcenced Pepe during Champions League final after incorrect decision

Former referee Mark Clattenburg has revealed how he and his team missed the offside decision during Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Atletico Madrid.

The 2016 Champions League final ended in pain for Atletico Madrid as they lost on penalties to local rivals Real Madrid.

But during the game, there was some controversy with Sergio Ramos putting Real Madrid ahead with what should have been an offside decision.

It’s a decision that simply wouldn’t happen in the age of VAR, but in those days, it was down to the referee to find an opportunity to level the game out if they knew they had a decision wrong.

That’s something the referee of that game, Clattenburg, did indeed manage, even if Atletico Madrid went on to miss a debatable penalty before eventually finding the equaliser through Yannick Carrasco.

Clattenburg revealed on The Brazilian Shirt Name: “When the ball gets delivered, I knew there was a touch by Gareth Bale in the middle. That then went to [Sergio] Ramos who scored.

“I said to my assistant, but it was very difficult with the noise: ‘Did you know there was a touch in the middle? You know there’s a touch?’ But he just froze. I could see him looking at the big screen. He completely froze, so about a minute later I restarted the game because I had to.

“I was very fortunate that two or three minutes after half time, I’m presented with a 50-50 penalty. [Fernando] Torres was really clever getting in front of Pepe to draw a foul.

“It’s one you wouldn’t want to settle a game on. I gave it to give back the balance. It was one of those perfect scenarios in refereeing and I gave the penalty.

“After the penalty, Pepe said to me ‘Mark, that’s not a penalty’, and I said ‘neither was your first goal’ and he just walked away.”

Real Madrid went on to win 5-3 on penalties, leaving Atleti to imagine what could have been had Antoine Griezmann found the net from the second-half penalty.

Tags Antoine Griezmann Atletico Madrid Mark Clattenburg Pepe Real Madrid
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