Mark Clattenburg quit top level European refereeing in 2017. He was the man who took charge of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in Milan. Now, four years after the game, he admitted that Real Madrid's goal was offside.
It has been nearly four years since Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in the 2016 Champions League final in Milan and 'Los Colchoneros' were angry at the awarding of Sergio Ramos' goal.
The referee that night, Mark Clattenburg, has admitted his mistake in a column for the 'Daily Mail'.
"In that final Real Madrid went 1-0 up in the first half but the goal was slightly offside and we realised at half-time. It was a hard call and my assistant missed it," Clattenburg admitted.
But he also said that because of that mistake, he was able to calm Real Madrid's protests when he gave Atletico a penalty in the second half. Pepe fouled Torres, but Griezmann hit the bar with it.
"Pepe fouled Fernando Torres. Pepe was furious and said to me in perfect English: 'Never a penalty, Mark.' I said to him: 'Your first goal shouldn't have stood.' It shut him up. People might think that sounds odd, because two wrongs don't make a right and referees don't think like that, but players do," he recalled.
Clattenburg admitted Pepe was a real handful to officiate and explained why he stuck out his tongue when Pepe feigned injury to try and get a player sent off. "He did it twice in that game, trying to get an Atletico Madrid player sent off. Another referee might have fallen for it but I'd done my homework. I was thinking: 'How soft are you for a big man?," he concluded.