Mark Clattenburg claims Spurs star was ‘fortunate’ to avoid red card against Newcastle

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has claimed that Rodrigo Bentancur was lucky not to be shown a red card for his attempted headbutt on Allan Saint-Maximin during Tottenham’s 5-1 win over Newcastle United.

Spurs produced a commanding performance on Sunday to move into fourth place and sent a clear message to their rivals in the race for Champions League qualification.

It was a near-perfect evening for the Lilywhites, with goals coming from some unfamiliar sources in the form of Ben Davies, Matt Doherty and Emerson Royal.

There was an altercation between the two sides towards the end of the first half, with Bentacur, Saint-Maximin and Joelinton being booked by Martin Atkinson for the incident.

Clattenburg believes Bentancur could have had no complaints had he been given his marching orders, insisting that the midfielder clearly intended to headbutt Saint-Maximin even though he did not connect with the Newcastle winger.

Clattenburg told The Daily Mail: “Rodrigo Bentancur can count himself fortunate that he wasn’t sent off in first-half stoppage time. The Tottenham midfielder didn’t make contact with Allan Saint-Maximin, but the intent was there.

“It was an attempted headbutt and a very clear one at that. Instead, Bentancur, Saint-Maximin and Joelinton, who rushed in and pushed over the Spurs player, were simply shown yellow cards for the ‘handbags’.

“Given the way the game went for Newcastle after that, manager Eddie Howe must wonder what the second half would have looked like had Bentancur been dismissed.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Bentancur does seem to have a bit of a nasty streak in him and Clattenburg is right in saying that the 24-year-old is fortunate that he did not make a connection as it would have seriously jeopardised our chances of getting all three points had he been shown a red card when the game was finely poised at 1-1.

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