Mark Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee, has rendered a decision about a contentious moment during Brentford’s thrilling 4-3 victory over Manchester United at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Matthijs de Ligt was injured as the home team scored. As a result, United’s league winless skid now stands at six games.
With pride still on the line ahead of the May 25 season finale, United supporters were disappointed as their team continued to slide deeper into what is turning out to be their worst-ever Premier League campaign, despite Ruben Amorim’s apparent prioritization of the forthcoming Europa League matchup with Athletic Club in his lineup selections.
Every call was significant because of how fast-paced and high-scoring the game was. Some United fans feel that Brentford’s decision to continue playing in spite of requests to stop for the injured De Ligt lacked sportsmanship and might have unfairly affected the outcome of the thrilling seven-goal match. View the incident at 00:53 below:
Mark Clattenburg Judges Whether Play Should Have Stopped
Kevin Schade’s first goal has been shrouded in controversy
Mason Mount had given Man United an early lead, but Luke Shaw had a disastrous game, giving Brentford an equalizer with his own goal. Six minutes later, Kevin Schade gave the home team the lead. United players were incensed and gathered around referee Anthony Taylor, thinking the score would be disallowed.
Schade scored shortly after De Ligt went down holding his knee after he connected with a cross. The referee permitted play to continue even though the Dutch defender collapsed during the attacking move, as shown in the video above. Clattenburg has since defended this decision. According to United in Focus, he stated:
When Matthijs de Ligt challenges his opponent for the ball, he gets hurt. The referee had to decide whether to end the game right away if the player had a major injury or a brain injury.
The decision to kick the ball out then rests with Brentford, not the referee. I concur that the game must go on, and the referee is not at fault for Brentford’s second goal.
Interestingly, opposing manager Thomas Frank had a different take on the event, wishing the former Ajax defender a speedy recovery and expressing compassion for Manchester United. View below:
“I don’t know, we will check,” United manager Ruben Amorim said to MUTV when questioned about the center-back’s injury’s severity following the game. I’m worried about the team for the upcoming season as well as this game [against Athletic Club], so I hope it’s [just] a minor problem.”
People searching the internet for rapid answers regarding De Ligt’s possible recovery schedule were struck with a wave of pessimism, as knee injuries frequently cause immediate fear. Despite the lack of an official update, many were already anticipating he would miss Thursday night’s second leg of the Europa League semi-final.
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