Clattenburg gives highly remarkable reason for mistake in CL final


Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 11:42 PM• Davey de Laat • Last update: 23:45

Former referee Mark Clattenburg explained why Sergio Ramos’ goal in the 2015/16 Champions League final against Atlético Madrid was not disallowed. The Real Madrid defender was currently in an offside position, but nevertheless scored the goal. The 48-year-old Englishman was a guest on the program ‘The Brazilian Shirt Name’, in which he explained various situations that occurred in that match.

Real Madrid won the 2016 final at the San Siro on penalties, but criticism of the referee prevailed. The first goal of the Royal was approved by Clattenburg, while the footage clearly showed that Ramos was offside. The referee gave the excuse that the correct decision had not been made due to a miscommunication. The linesman’s headset was not working at the time and because VAR had not yet made its appearance, the decision was ultimately not reversed.

The referee knew at half-time that a big mistake had been made and therefore gave an unjustified penalty to Atlético in the second half, which was used by Yannick Carrasco. “I whistled because it restored balance. Madrid had the chance with the offside goal and Atlético with the penalty,” said Clattenburg. “It was one of those perfect arbitrage scenarios. I give the penalty, Pepe comes to me and says that this was not a foul. I then told him that their offside goal was not legal either, and he left.”

“Atlético had the chance to equalize, but failed. And now they will blame me, but they can’t because Antoine Griezmann had the chance with that penalty,” Clattenburg concluded in the interview. In the penalty shootout after extra time, the first seven penalties hit, after which Juanfran hit the post on behalf of Atlético. Ronaldo then made the decision, giving Real Madrid the Champions League.