MARK CLATTENBURG: I couldn’t sleep before I refereed the 2016 Champions League final

To be told you are refereeing the Champions League final is the ultimate achievement at club level and I was lucky enough to experience that in 2016.

I was driving when Pierluigi Collina’s name flashed up — I’m glad I pulled over to take the call because I might have lost control after what he was about to tell me!

Collina was my boss at UEFA and said he wanted me to referee the the final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid the following month. Wow. I took it in my stride during the call but I was screaming and punching the air when I hung up! But you then realise, ‘Hold on, I’ve actually got to referee this game now’.

The night before the match, in my hotel in Milan, I just could not sleep. I was going over and over my preparation notes and my game-plan, how I wanted to let the match breathe and not be over officious from the start.

Seriously, I have never experienced torment like it before a game.

The tunnel at the San Siro is huge and I remember the nerves during that walk. I was absolutely terrified. You know that the scrutiny of every decision will be like nothing you have ever experienced. 

I was also having to control some of the game’s biggest agitators, those who always made life hard for you, like Pepe and Sergio Ramos.

I was running on empty come the end. I remember saying to my team of officials, ‘Guys, help me out, I can’t see straight!’. The occasion means you are relying on adrenalin far sooner than normal.

It was such a relief to blow for the penalty shootout and I had refereed well. We got back to the dressing room and Collina gave me a big hug. The sponsors, Heineken, had also left us a crate of beer — it has never tasted so good!