'I'm going to smash you' — Super Eagles legend Mikel Obi reveals why he threatened to break a Premier League referee’s legs

Former Chelsea and Super Eagles midfielder Mikel Obi has opened up about a heated confrontation with Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, where he allegedly threatened to break the Englishman’s legs.

The Nigerian star was infuriated by a claim from his teammate Ramires, who alleged that Clattenburg had made racist remarks about him, which led to a furious outburst.

Recalling the tense moment, Mikel recounted on his ObiOne podcast, “Ramires came to me and said, ‘Mikel, do you know what he said to you? He called you a f***ing black c***.’ I lost it. I absolutely lost it.

“I left the dressing room and went to the referee’s dressing room, saying, ‘Come out, I’m going to break your fucking legs. I’m going to smash you.’ Before I could get in, they were pulling me back.”

Clattenburg also wrote about the incident from his point of view, remembering the intensity of Mikel’s reaction. According to the referee, Mikel even attempted to physically assault him after the match.

“Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi once swung at me in the referee’s room at Stamford Bridge,” Clattenburg wrote. “He screamed he wanted to break my legs and was being held back by Roberto Di Matteo and Eddie Newton.”

Thanks to he confrontation, Mikel received a three-match ban, although Clattenburg, who was suspended for four matches during a police investigation into his alleged racist comments, believed that the punishment was too lenient, stating, “He should have been banned for the entire season instead.”

The incident remains one of the more explosive confrontations between a player and a referee in Premier League history, with both Mikel and Clattenburg standing by their accounts of that controversial day at Stamford Bridge.