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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jacob Leeks

Laura Woods raises concern for Peter Walton as fans miffed by ref's BT Sport appearance

Laura Woods has raised concerns for Peter Walton after the former referee made an appearance on BT Sport's Champions League coverage.

Walton is BT Sport's referee analyst and is brought in to give his thoughts on incidents throughout matches. This happened again on Tuesday night during Manchester City 's thrilling semi-final first-leg win over Real Madrid.

But when Walton was brought in by commentator Darren Fletcher to provide his analysis on an incident in the second-half, something appeared to be off. Many noticed that Walton's sound levels were not right, with the former referee much quieter and giving off more echoes than during his usual appearances.

That was also spotted by talkSPORT presenter Woods, who took to Twitter to raise her concerns about Walton. In a follow-up to a tweet in which she wrote: "Benzema ridiculous. This game," Woods said: "Has anyone checked on Peter Walton btw."

Woods was not the only one to find Walton's sound levels amusing, with legendary commentator Clive Tyldesley poking fun at the former referee. Tyldesley joked: "Flush and wash your hands, Peter."

Former Football Focus presenter Dan Walker also called on his followers to partake in a light-hearted quiz surrounding Walton's whereabouts. He tweeted: "Amazing game but… has anyone worked out where Peter Walton was watching it from? A Cave; B Cardboard box; C Garden shed; D Portaloo."

Laura Woods has raised concerns for Walton after his Tuesday night appearance on BT Sport (talkSPORT)

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Supporters themselves also revelled in Walton's sound-check misfortune. Those viewers came up with a range of potential locations for where Walton might have been while giving his analysis.

“And we cross over to Peter Walton, live from his microwave,” one said. Another added: "Why’s Peter Walton sitting in his tumble dryer on the Champions League nights," with a third joking: "Peter Walton coming in live from the international space centre there."

Another said: "I know you’re all wondering how Real Madrid are still in this game, but my main concern now is whether Peter Walton will be rescued from his cardboard box." While a fifth concluded: "Don’t know what was better Benzemas pen or Peter Walton speaking into an Xbox 360 mic."

Walton was only seen briefly during the clash at the Etihad Stadium, which became an immediate classic. Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring for City after just two minutes when he stooped down low to head in Riyad Mahrez's brilliant cross.

It took only nine minutes for City to double their lead, with Gabriel Jesus showing some great footwork in the box to turn and fire past Thibaut Courtois. But the hosts were pegged back just after the half-hour mark when Karim Benzema somehow swept in Ferland Mendy's cross.

City got back on top in the second-half, with Phil Foden heading in Fernandinho's cross. That advantage was halved again two minutes later when Vinicius left Fernandinho trailing in his wake to break into the box and finish past Ederson.

There was still more to come though, with Bernando Silva getting on the scoresheet when he finished emphatically high into the net when Madrid were expecting a free-kick to be awarded. Walton was then brought in when Aymeric Laporte handled the ball in the box, with Karim Benzema converting the subsequent penalty.

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