MARK CLATTENBURG told Cristiano Ronaldo ‘get off my face’ in a surreal moment at Euro 2016.
The prominent referee, who has swapped Premier League pitches for the Gladiators arena in recent years, was the man in the middle when Portugal won the Euros nine years ago.
Clattenburg had a bizarre interaction with Ronaldo[/caption]
Clattenburg was also in charge when Ronaldo‘s Real Madrid beat rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final only one month prior.
That, the 50-year-old says, led to a bizarre exchange which some viewers could have taken the wrong way.
Clattenburg told the Beast Mode On Podcast: “I was lucky with Ronaldo in a way that his two major finals, he won the Champions League for Real Madrid against Atletico in 2016…
“A month later, I refereed the Euro final, Portugal [vs] France, and he won again.
“Going up to get my medal up the stairs, and he’s at the top of, like, a respect line.
“So, as I was walking through, I’m at the front, Ronaldo grabs my face and tries to shake it, you know, as a congratulations.
“I’m like, ‘Ronaldo, get off my face, I’m live on TV!’”
Ronaldo went on to win two more Champions League titles for Real Madrid.
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Clattenburg refereed two massive titles for Ronaldo in the space of weeks[/caption]
But Clattenburg is the only ref to have overseen a major international tournament triumph for CR7.
Ronaldo was forced off injured in the first half of the Euro 2016 final but his compatriot, Eder, came up trumps in the 109th minute of an extra-time win.
While Ronaldo is still going strong in Saudi Arabia, Clattenburg has held various roles since ditching English football in 2017.
He had short-term spells in Saudi, China and Egypt before briefly joining Nottingham Forest as a referee analyst last year.
Now, Clattenburg can be seen playing the pantomime villain on the rebooted BBC show Gladiators.
Mark Clattenburg refereed the 2016 clash between two Madrid rivals[/caption]
