Mark Clattenburg sparks confusion with strange comment during Liverpool's Champions League win

Mark Clattenburg's comments on the officiating of referee Espen Eskas during Liverpool's Champions League fixture with AC Milan sparked quite a reaction from supporters tuning into Amazon Prime's European coverage.

The match, which saw Liverpool triumph 3-1 in their group stage kick-off at the fabled San Siro on Tuesday, wasn't just a showcase of footballing prowess but also put the spotlight on the officials. Eskas endured some particularly fiery moments within the cauldron of the iconic Italian venue.

As a result, Clattenburg implied that the Norwegian could have been more generous with free kicks to AC Milan as a way to pacify the energetic home supporters and keep things under control.

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Despite falling behind to an early strike by Christian Pulisic, Liverpool demonstrated formidable fighting spirit to turn the match around with strikes from Ibrahima Konate , Virgil van Dijk , and then Dominik Szoboszlai sealing the deal. The Reds took control post the opening Milan goal and dictated the game from thereon.

Alan Shearer, offering his insights on Amazon Prime as a co-commentator during the clash, applauded Eskas' refereeing. He opined: "He certainly hasn't been influenced by this crowd, they don't half make some noise at every decision they want. He hasn't been influenced at all."

Adding further, Shearer remarked: "I think he is just evening it up there [with that decision] isn't he? If he didn't give the first one then he's not giving that one."

Nevertheless, Clattenburg stirred things up among some of the Liverpool faithful when he suggested that Eskas might have considered awarding more free-kicks to AC Milan, hinting that it would help simmer down the intense atmosphere at the San Siro.

Discussing a contentious call, Clattenburg conceded, "I think the first one is definitely a free-kick," noting a particular incident that raised eyebrows.

"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 judgment back."

Liverpool.com says: Clattenburg is talking about managing the game and that does happen during the course of a match but there are sometimes better ways to explain something suggesting the referee might give a decision to appease the home crowd. That really doesn't sound too good and when it comes from a former top-level official, it is obviously going to lead viewers to questioning things.