The amount of people that watch the FA Cup Final around the world is unbelievable. Millions from across the planet tune into the showpiece for the FA. This can put pressure on all concerned and the referee has a huge part to play, just one mistake and the trophy can be decided. If I am to be totally honest, this years Cup Final was a poor game. It was a stop start type of game and had no real pattern. All the same it had to be refereed and overall I thought Mark did quite well, although in the post match analysis he did come in for some stick. Unfair stick in my opinion, the official had two big calls in the game and I know Crystal Palace manager thought he got them both wrong. His comments could not be further from the truth, Mark got both calls correct. A lot of people including Pardew thought the official should have allowed an advantage to Conor Wichkham after he was brought down by Chris Smalling. I thought in this instance Mark was correct to blow as it was early enough in the game and it was a great time to put his authority on the game and caution Smalling. If you look at it again, it is not even 100% that the Palace player would have scored as the United players had stopped after hearing the whistle. As I said earlier I was happy Mark blew for the free kick, playing advantage is not always the best thing to do and in this case the correct call was made. The other big shout in the game was also not given in the Eagles favour, something that might have made them think it was not to be their day. The incident I am looking at, is the moment when Zaha made a brilliant probing run into United,s box. A lot of the pundits thought it was a penalty, but in my opinion the referee got it correct. Wayne Rooney made no contact with the ball but also did not foul Zaha, it was a brilliant piece of defending by the England captain as he used his body to shield out a shot coming in from the Palace player. Overall Mark did very well in the Final in what as I mentioned earlier was a poor game. Disappointing game or not, it was decided by a wonder strike from Lingard which I don't think ten goalkeepers would have saved.
Having done an extremely good job at Wembley, Mark,s next challenge was the biggest of his career as he took control of the Champions League final in Milan. Not just any Final, but an all Spanish affair between Real and Atletico Madrid. This one would be tough to control as both sides were known to have a bit of a nasty streak within their squads. Atletico,s manager Simeone can be a nightmare on the line and two other problems were Pepe and Ramos. These two guys in my opinion are possibly the two biggest cheats in the modern game. In the final, the minute Mark blew for free kicks they were in his face looking for players to be cautioned and this is just not acceptable. After approximately twenty minutes Mark had enough and laid into the both of them and told them to shut it or he would take serious action. It worked perfectly for him and this made his game. Real,s goal was probably offside but it was so close to call, it actually took about three replays for me to see it clearly. Officials do not have the luxury of TV replays as we know so we will let the assistant off with that one on this occasion. The only issue I can say I was unhappy with Mark,s performance was his failure to send off Pepe for a challenge that caught Gabi on the thigh over the knee. If a red had been produced no one would have batted an eyelid. One thing that will stay with me forever from this game is the moment Mark made a disgusting stare at Pepe as he was rolling around the pitch after been caught accidentally by a an arm. Mark just stood over him looked down and I can only imagine he was saying to himself, get up you fool your making a show of yourself. A lesser experienced referee might have got caught out by Pepe,s antics, but not Mark Clattenburg the best referee in Europe at the moment.
Both the domestic and european seasons have now come to an end we can look forward to the start of the 2016 European Championships. Mark Clattenburg has had a fabulous season and gets all the plaudits from me for a job well done. I was not the only one that thought Mark was top of the crop after the Champions League Final, his boss Mr.Collina waited in the tunnel to congratulate the official on his performance. The Italian even went as far as to say that it was the best refereeing performance he had seen in a long time. So as we all sit down to watch the upcoming Championship I will be interested to see who will get the final. Do not rule Mark as I am sure he will be in the shake up at the end and it will be well deserved. The next few weeks are going to be very interesting and as usual I will give my opinions to the guys at Pitch Talk. Best of luck to everyone who has teams taking part and let us all hope a refereeing blunder does not send your side out the exit door. Until next week CIAO !
