It’s not long until Mark Clattenburg will be making new friends and enemies away from the Premier League, but it looks like he is getting some practice in.
The English referee – whose next job will be in Saudi Arabia – was chosen by Uefa to take charge of the Europa League last-16 meeting between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Schalke 04.
The German clubs had drawn 1-1 in Gelsenkirchen in their first leg at the Veltins-Arena, with Guido Burgstaller cancelling out an early Jonas Hoffmann strike, and Gladbach looked set for a quarter-final berth when Andreas Christensen and Mahmoud Dahoud fired them into a 2-0 half-time lead.
What a hit!@LFC target Mahmoud Dahoud scores a screamer from distance. 🚀 #UEL https://t.co/D0SGEqLOlX
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 16, 2017
But Leon Goretzka pulled one goal back, and then Clattenburg intervened, pointing to the penalty spot after Dahoud was ruled to have handled in the box.
Former Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb converted the spot-kick, but it’s fair to say plenty of people disagreed with the refereeing display.
Comments ranged from this…
https://twitter.com/CoutinOhOhOh/status/842488548561444864
To this…
If refs could actually learn the rules for handball, that'd be really nice.
— Cover_Shadow (@Cover_Shadow) March 16, 2017
To this…
Stupid English referee ruining this game, NEVER A HANDBALL! #mgbsch #EuropaLeague
— Wrighty 🏴🇪🇺🇵🇸 (@wrightyyoutube) March 16, 2017
And how could we forget this.
Mark Clattenburg reffed the World Cup and EURO and UCL final, and doesn't know the handball rule. Unbelievable. #BMGS04
— Alex Truica (@AlexTruica) March 16, 2017
The complaints weren’t just in English, as you might expect from a clash between German teams, but he hasn’t been getting much benefit of the doubt in any language.
Auch ohne Zeitlupe ist erkennbar, dass der #Elfmeter eine glatte Fehlentscheidung von Schiedsrichter #Clattenburg ist! #PenaltyGate #BMGS04
— Jakob Sebastian Kahl (@KahlJakob) March 16, 2017
You can see the penalty – followed by a replay of the original handball call – here. Gladbach supporters certainly weren’t happy, and nor was their manager.
https://twitter.com/whufcammi/status/842491734944874496
