2024-25 UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals, second legs. The referees in charge of 15 April games.
21:00 CET - Birmingham (Villa Park)
ASTON VILLA FC (ENG) - PARIS SAINT GERMAIN (FRA)
Referee:
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Iñigo Prieto López de Ceraín ESP
Fourth Official:Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: William Young SCO
UEFA Delegate: Alojzije Šupraha CRO
Fourth Official:
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: William Young SCO
UEFA Delegate: Alojzije Šupraha CRO
21:00 CET - Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park)
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (GER) - FC BARCELONA (ESP)
Referee: Maurizio Mariani ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Daniele Bindoni ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni ITA
Fourth Official: Simone Sozza ITA
Video Assistant Referee:Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Doveri ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Terje Hauge NOR
UEFA Delegate: Mark Blackbourne ENG
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (GER) - FC BARCELONA (ESP)
Referee: Maurizio Mariani ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Daniele Bindoni ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni ITA
Fourth Official: Simone Sozza ITA
Video Assistant Referee:
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Doveri ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Terje Hauge NOR
UEFA Delegate: Mark Blackbourne ENG
I'm done with it
ReplyDeleteLet's say the double appointment of any referees in CL quarterfinals are pointless...especially that if you really want double appoint somebody then you can you give a sonorous EL game to the certain referee.
ReplyDeleteIf that's a replacement appointment, then still you could use any other referee.
Nothing against Mariani personally, but this is just really bad management. Truly awful.
Rosetti, what a boss!
ReplyDeleteDisgraceful choice again with an Italian.
Is there someone that takes him away of this job?
Its to obvious, his appointments.
Maybe al the finals for Italian?
Youth Colombo
Ecl Sozza
EL Mariana
Cl Massa
It can happen with this boss
Apart from the nationality of referee, this is absolutely shocking management, with many Elite referees, you can't find an alternative for a game. Possible reasons can be they had a narrow choice for PSG, but then OK, please send another referee to this one in Dortmund. Otherwise, absolutely you can't find any explanation here.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we can absolutely confirm that Massa was rejected by Velasco, after this double assignment by Mariani, but it shouldn't have happened. A poor management, to say it kindly, they also mock all the other referees belonging to this category and working hardly for getting a game... one must be honest here.
At least, there is a consensus among the experts here. Thankyou Chefren, "one must be honest".
DeleteHe can make some gesture ... Pinheiro or some other upcoming referee with a good season, but this is to obvious.
DeleteI am thoroughly fed up with the rampant Italian nepotism—call it what you will. Shame on you, Rosetti. With such blatantly biased appointments, it is only right that he steps down.
ReplyDeleteI think that's it's safe to say that UEFA Referee's committee needs a new Head.
ReplyDeleteI know what happened here. The following matches were still open (no appointment) after the 1st legs:
ReplyDelete-Athletic Club vs Rangers
-Man United vs Lyon
In the previous rounds we have seen that these slots are filled by referees from a 1st leg, waiting for their 1st leg performances. The pool of referees is small, because a number of referees have been rejected (f.e. Massa).
Therefore, Rosetti had initially planned Mariani for a UEL 2nd leg (Athletic-Rangers?) as well. Because Mariani was the only "available" Italian. However, the UEL games happen to be very tight, while the game in Dortmund is almost over. Therefore the referee in Dortmund (a French?) has been moved to Bilbao, while Mariani gets another UCL game in Dortmund.
It would make sense, after some controversy in Scotland tbh. This is how Rosetti operates.
DeleteI admit, on paper it looks very poor. There are only 8 UEFA Champions League matches available and they should be divided among 8 different referees.
In addition, some nations don’t have a UCL appointment in the knock-outs at all so far -- for example Netherlands with two Elite referees. While there is a certain Björn Kuipers (NED) in the RefCom… That’s quite baffling.
Is too much political. The favoritism is there, specially Italians and Spain refs get too many. You see clear that some elite referees not getting same fair treat. And like Unknown is say, I don’t think Kuipers in the committee is helping the Dutch referees. It maybe make them more weak. For the Italians it make them more strong.
DeleteIt’s time for Rosetti to go.
ReplyDeleteThis management is a complete disaster. What is he thinking? Probably not much.
Nothing against Mariani—I consider him as a good referee —but appointing another Italian is a bad joke.
Hopefully, Mr. Rosetti realizes himself that he is unfit for the position of chairman.
Is it possible that UEFA always nominates standby referees who are on call if someone else is absent at short notice and that Mariani will therefore be used again in the UCL rather unexpectedly? For example, I notice that Slavko Vinčić hasn't refereed a match since March 13 (not even in the Slovenian league, where Martin Matoša has officiated three more matches since then). But maybe we'll see him in the Europa League next week ...
ReplyDeleteSlavko has a match right now in Slovenian League...He was replaced last matchday with Matosa...Dont know the reason..We can expect him on Wednesday or Thursday for sure.
DeleteWhile Sanchez is less surprising than Mariani, there are still some arguments against this appointment.
ReplyDelete- He hasn't done a 2nd leg in CL KO stage before
- The winner could meet a Spanish team (Real) in the next round
- The performance in Dortmund-Lille wasn't really good
- He has just returned from an injury
At the moment, it looks like we have two new number ones in Italy and Spain. Unless Massa and/or Gil Manzano get a CL SF, of course.
BTW quite funny from a Christian perspective, that the race for the Spanish number one spot is betweeen Jose Maria and Jesus. :)
If the problem is working on a small circle of referees, and therefore being forced to move at a later time based on unexpected scores and incidents (the explanation you gave above fits very well, indeed), well then in my opinion we should review everything, to avoid these forced changes. Basically, there would be the possibility of seeing more elements in this phase, so as to have more choice. There are referees who have almost not been appointed at all, compared to others used for different matches. In my opinion, at a certain point we should also look at the overall management. I agree that in the end the Dortmund match may not be very interesting, compared to the Europa League, but why a problem if Mariani had been confirmed in Europa League? Indeed, he could have had a more challenging match for him. Instead of giving him two Champions League quarter-finals, which in total are eight matches and it is not possible that two of them are given to the same referee. Very bad management. This gives me the idea that Rosetti decides everything, OK he is always the chairman, but what about the others? Is it possible they agree with all these choices? I have doubts.
ReplyDeleteThat said, if we analyze the choice for Aston Villa - PSG, we can say that at the moment Sanchez Martinez is ahead of Gil Manzano. It could be that the Murcian has been called up for the Club World Cup. We will know soon.
When do we know more about the club world cup? Which referee are appointed?
DeleteSome of AFC and CAF are revealed... but the rest of the names?
I agree, Sánchez must be selected for the Club World Cup just like Mariani. The list is already made, as you say, AFC and CAF have already been published and I still don't know why the others haven't been made public.
DeleteAlso special that Mariani is refereeing rigth now, so not much time to recover, alao mentally after a CL game and a Serie A game in short time...
ReplyDeleteI think, this is normally avoided for Italian referees, right?
DeleteSo it should support the idea, that Mariani wasn't planned in Dortmund initially.
Yes, it never happens to officiate a serie A game and then a CL two days after.
DeleteFor sure the change was after first leg scores, when domestic assignments had been already published.
One can draw the conclusion committee thinks Borussia Dortmund - Barcelona doesn't need big efforts by the referee.
I could understand this kind of management of referees from Italy if we were talking about the era when the list of FIFA referees included Rizzoli, Rocchi, Orsato...
ReplyDeleteBut now? We don't have a top referee name from Italy right now and it seems that they are trying to show the strength of Italian referees through quantity (they got the largest number of matches in European competitions), when they can't through quality. But in everything there must be some limit, some reasonable framework and I'm afraid that in this case it has long since been breached.
And this is nothing against italian referees of course, I just think THE MANAGEMENT of Italian referees in UEFA competitions is very bad.
Yess you say it good!
DeleteNo top referees now, but the get a lot of games in the final stage of the tournements.
I would say: if Italian and Spanish referees are not up to the standards of the biggest games (and indeed the quality of refereeing in these two countries much decreased last years), simply don't appoint them or appoint them sensibly. Instead, UEFA RefCom push them all, hoping that finally at least one of them will make a breakthrough. It's unfair to the others.
ReplyDeleteAt first, Mariani indeed seems to be the most 'talented' out from the three (btw, I'm sure that the Massa's missed DOGSO would not have been judged so harshly if there was no PSG involved...) but his appointments this season are crazy. Why treat referees so differently just because of their nationality?
This, along with favouring Obrenovič, even after many missed mandatory cards in his games, is really annoying and clearly points towards a favouritism by Rosetti/Velasco/Šajn-Čeferin. Better not to talk about RefCom reactions after mistakes or even controversial calls against certain teams and treatment of referees during last two EUROs. I think that under Čeferin nothing is going to change, unfortunately.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSomething else about the appointment policy. I noticed that Italian referees can qualify for Champions League matches by performing “satisfying” in Serie A. Is that is fair towards referees from other countries?
ReplyDeleteIn Mariani’s example: his play-off with Monaco was below par, then he missed the R16 entirely. Meanwhile, Massa fails with PSG and Mariani is ALL OF A SUDDEN good enough for QFs Champions League again. Based on a decent performance in Serie A. Really? Is that how Rosetti justifies the appointment? Come on, where is the equal framework?
Of course, it also works the other way around, if they perform poorly in Italy, they are not appointed in Europe, I assume. However, the management is not fair. To illustrate the example of the Netherlands again: Gözübüyük and Makkelie performed satisfying in the Dutch Classico and PSV-Ajax respectively. Huge title deciders. But Rosetti seemingly does not care and er haven’t seen them in the Champions League.
Moreover, the same applies to England: according to many, Oliver has had a weaker season in the Premier League, but as long as he performs well enough in Europe, and most importantly: no controversial incidents, he keeps getting his Champions League appointments, as we’ve witnessed. Yeah, even when there was a 7-0 scoreline in Paris. Some referees had a much tougher job at hand and are sidelined after minimal controversy.
It is obvious that Rosetti is not interested in the Premier League and Eredivisie at all. On the other hand, the Italian Serie A is a bit overrated. Serie A hasn’t been the best competition in Europe for a long time. Serie A is not the best competition in terms of money, in terms of teams or referees, yet Rosetti acts like Serie A is the best league in Europe. Some will argue that Serie A is the most difficult league to officiate. But at the same time, we can argue that Serie A is mainly difficult because of the attitude and leniency applied by the referees themselves (allowing everything).
I have to disagree slightly and maybe you won’t agree with me, but watching serie a domestically, I feel that the league have way less controversies than the premier league/ la liga. It’s true that they don’t have a real elite referee there with Orsato gone, but I feel refereeing there is more consistent.
DeleteI don’t like the double appointment for sure, but we had good refereeing this year( chiffi/doveri etc..)
Regardless of whether Serie A is overrated or not that's not the point of this story. Bottom line -
DeleteThe problem isn't that Italian referees get so many matches but the problem is that (at the moment) they do not deserve it in a terms of quality. Some mentioned in the previous comments the treatment of Slovenian and Spanish referees and I can agree but the example with the Italian referees is the most drastic.
UEFA Serie A Italian League. kkkk
ReplyDelete56' Liverpool : West Ham
ReplyDeleteI think an excellent demonstration of the difference in handball interpretation. I'd imagine in Uefa it would have been viewed differently
Big RC missed by Soto Grado on Mbappe.
ReplyDeleteGil Manzani had to interfere from the VAR
Manzano*
DeleteSoto Grado is looking a bit out of his depth in this 1H needing two OFRs for rather 'easy' decisions, specially the Mbappé SFP RC.
DeleteIn context, he wasn't initially bound to referee this game (Martínez Munuera was initially appointed and then replaced a couple of days ago), and recent rumours say Medina Cantalejo contrary to what everyone expected won't give him the Clásico Copa del Rey final as a farewell prize, as a punishment for internal political disagreements.
Another clear RC missed by Soto Grado, third OFR for him.
DeleteHe's just mentally not there, very sad to see. And Medina Cantalejo is also to be blamed.
For the appointment, do you think Rosetti gave Mariani the double appointment because we won’t see any italian in the SF of all the competitions ( UCL/UEL/UECL) ?
ReplyDelete2010 WC final assistant Darren Cann had his final game yesterday (City vs Palace)
ReplyDeleteIncredibile career, his early games in CL were with Graham Poll as referee, but do you know why he retired at this point, when other games are missing before the end of season? It's a particular timing, he didn't wait for that.
DeleteNot sure. The story has at least gotten more attention compared to if he had of retired on the final day most likely.
Delete2 games for Mariani is properly insane. What a disgrace
ReplyDeleteA double appointment would at least need to have a convincing explanation from Rosetti. The most correct way would be to appoint one of the elite referees who refereed the first leg games of the UEL or UECL. Since this is an important game in Dortmund, but at the same time the tie is practically over, they could choose someone who would travel to a possible continental final of any of the three competitions. Like Nyberg and Oliver who refereed last week.
DeleteYes, there were several options, who wouldn't normally get a CL QF, but look sensible due to the first leg, e.g. Bastien, Kruzliak or Pinheiro.
DeleteThis is getting ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI am not the fan of double appointments, but I don’t know why frustrations about this, actually I guess it is just because it is Mariani, nothing else. Strange management happened before.
ReplyDelete13/14: Kuipers CL final after two Group stage and one Ro16 matches
17/18: Kuipers in CL semis after three group stave matches
17/18: Mazic with CL final after four group stage matches
18/19: Skomina, Orsato and Makkelie double appointment in Ro16
20/21: Kuipers and Makkelie double appointment in Ro16
21/22: Marciniak double appointment in Ro16
15/16: Clattenburg both SF and Final
22/23: Marciniak both SF and Final
Two biggest
15/16: Cakir double appointment in Cl semis
Kuipers in EL finals in 2013 and 2018
The fact that it's not uncommon doesn't make it good that happens.
DeleteDid you just compare appointments of refereeing names like Kuipers, Cakir, Mazic, Skomina, Clattenburg and Marciniak with this QF appointment? Comparing management of top UEFA referees in that period with the referee who is almost new in Elite group?
DeleteAgree, comparing Mariani's case with the previous ones is like comparing potatoes with watermelons :)
Delete@carlrdm So I was right, it is not problem it is happening, problem is it is Mariani.
Delete@quilava: agree 100%, I just wanted to point out that it happened before and it will happened in the future.
Just a few sentences on this strange management and I will close. What should we then say on management toward some of the best referees ever during 2000-2010 period?
- The biggest shame for UEFA Refereeing IMO, great FDB never got UEFA final, nor CL nor EL;
- Claus Bo Larsen never got CL or EL final;
- Treatment of Terje Hauge and Mejuto Gonzalez after they did Champions League finals;
All in all, UEFA Refereeing was alaways unfair, even more before, but younger population maybe does not remember…
For tomorrow everything is possible but I’d say:
ReplyDeleteInter-Bayern: Makkelie NED (Johannesson)
Real Madrid-Arsenal: Letexier FRA (Rocchi)
I don't have the name of the observers in the Europa League - Conference League on Thursday but I would say this:
Lazio-Bodo: Schärer SUI (I think we'll see last week's referees again, if it's not Schärer here, I wouldn't be surprised to see Peljto.)
Eintracht-Tottenham: Turpin FRA
Man United-Lyon: Siebert GER
Bilbao-Rangers: Vincic SVN
Chelsea-Legia: Kruzliak SVK
Jagiellonia-Betis: Pinheiro POR
Fiorentina-Celje: Gil Manzano ESP
Rapid Wien-Djungardens: Meler TUR (Mmm I have my doubts with Meler, but if not, I really don't know...)
Kruzliak can be excluded for Chelsea-Legia. ;-)
DeleteLazio-Bodo: Nalbandyan
Eintracht-Tottenham: Ceferin
Man United-Lyon: Fernandez Marin
Bilbao-Rangers: Webb
Chelsea-Legia: Ruzbarsky ;-)
Jagiellonia-Betis: Zimmermann
Fiorentina-Celje: Antonov
Rapid Wien-Djungardens: Trefoloni
Looks quite good to me.
DeleteMeler might still be injured, so maybe Kruzliak in Vienna and Massa or Bastien in London.
Gil Manzano could also be in Rome, I think.
And Kovacs would be an alternative to Makkelie in Milan.
Kružliak's assistant Hancko will be the referee in the Slovak Cup on Tuesday.
DeleteIMO not the best display by Simone Sozza in Lazio-Roma derby. Yes, the game ended without controversy but IMO he was way to lenient in some situations, allowing players a lot (especially towards the end of second half).
ReplyDeleteHe never lost control of the game (which is already a success) but IMO he did lose control over some players. Especially Guendouzi, Marusic and Saelemaekers were allowed to do everything and should have definitely received a yc for persistently infringing the laws at some point. I actually thought he was pretty lucky that they didn’t do anything crazy towards the end, otherwise…
For years now, the Rome derby has been an impossible match to referee: not even Collina could direct the match better than that. True, some YCs were missing (Marusic, Gouendozi etc.), some fouls were not whistled, too many protests and simulations were tolerated by both sides, but to end a match like this without losing control and without crucial mistakes is really difficult, so IMO really good Sozza came out alive! The only way to have even more control over the match would have been to give a RC to Paredes for that nasty punch after a few minutes or to the other Roma player who voluntarily hit an opponent at the beginning of the second half, but there was also a great danger that the RC would have the opposite effect and cause a civil war
DeleteMarusic was doing whatever he wanted,4 or 5 dangerous fouls on Saelemakers.
DeleteThen we had Guendouzi who also could have done anything,any type pf protest, any type of hand gesture and no cards.
Sozza came out alive,I agree..But cost of that was no injured player tonight.
In the future,for it will be cause hs style is basicaly saying do whatever you want.
Personally,I liked Pairetto's style more last derby.
Overall, I agree with your analysis, Jojo.
DeleteBut this performance by Sozza must be assessed as definitely better than the Milan's derby he officiated in an extremely poor way in Super Cup.
The problem in such games in my opinion is when referees are afraid fo issue card and they try to control it without them, because they are aware that cards can cause more controversy.
Sozza was at the border of that in first half, but indeed as you said he ended the game without major issues and that's the most important thing.
I would call this one as an OK performance for the Italian standard, for AIA it will be excellent, but as long as referees will keep cards or will try to give the less severe punishment of the two in borderline situations, we can't ask for more.
It's about mentality when you go to referee such games.
Nevertheless, he ensured a certain level of disciplinary control (but a bit struggling when having to do that), so one can't be fully disappointed like other circumstances.
The real problem is about Italian football in such games, very poor, teams think they are going to make a war, not even interested to score, but to fight. That's very sad.
Yesterday, almost all serie A games were very poor show in terms of quality of football and I think it's a general trend of recent weeks.
Before the game, a young referee called Diego Alfonzetti who was shamefully assaulted on a youth fixture was invited to 'join' the crew of this match (so it was five officials standing for the coin toss, and not four). A nice touch! But: in the 88th minute, Lazio's Rovella clearly pushed Simone Sozza, and was only shown a yellow card by the referee (having pulled out his YC in order to (finally) book Guendouzi for dissenting behaviour, Sozza lost his temper at Rovella and forgot to book the France player).
Deletehttps://www.streambug.io/cv/345101
I'd agree with the consensus above; as a point of consideration, for all the talking Sozza did with the players throughout the game, did it really result in him gaining their respect in this match?
Yep ,that incident with Guendouzi and Rovella speaks a lot about his mindset...
DeleteCards are going out of pocket when it's the most obvious.
Who cares about Guendouzi's hand gesture when you have Rovella's push...
Both players should have seen YC,but hey,the most important thing is no crucial mistakes..
Even if some players got injured
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iybe9SysJvw&ab_channel=sportstudiofu%C3%9Fball
ReplyDeleteBTS of a Bundesliga game including in-game communication
As of now, there are two guys in the netherlands that are very sad. They happen to be referees. Rosetti happen to dislike them. I will give hints. Their names start with D and S. Their surnames? M and G. Who are they
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhat a start for Mariani
ReplyDeleteHakimi scores seconds after claiming a head injury that wasn't given. If it wasn't for that he probably wouldn't have been so high up the pitch since he stayed down for a bit
ReplyDelete100% correct penalty by Mariani. Confirmed by VAR after poor flag from AR1 Bindoni
ReplyDeletehttps://streamff.com/v/d9e0b18a
DeleteVAR intervention and penalty, confirmed Mariani had already whistled it live without waiting for the possible AR flag.
Hakimi with that leg movement.. very dangerous, the classic situation in which a player is aware he can do that without looking like a violent conduct, but still...
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought. Not clear enough for VAR to intervene, but IMO not wrong if sanctioned
DeleteMarquinhos was very lucky to escape without at least yc for elbowing. Amazingly Sánchez Martínez didn't even whistle a foul, big mistake
ReplyDeleteDembele just inside the opposition half in an offside position.
ReplyDeleteNo card of any color for that headshot by Villa in the 88th minute is crazy
ReplyDeleteOnly 3 minutes added in Villa vs PSG? I don't understand it at least 5 minutes should have been added, 3 goals, subs, some stoppages in the game also
ReplyDeleteNo big stoppages, a few subs only & 3 goals. 3 minutes seems fine for UEFA games.
DeleteNot bad by Sanchez-Martinez. Crowd were unhappy with him in the second half a few times when he gave PSG a few fouls but he mostly got things correct.
ReplyDeleteOpen game until the end for Sanchez Martinez, after first half this was absolutely unexpected. However, technically not a very challenging one.
ReplyDeleteNormal performance by Mariani as well with clear penalty after AR mistake. Nothing big to discuss today.
Only 1 additional minute first hal and only 3 in second half were very poor decisions by Sanchez Martinez
ReplyDeleteOnly 4 replacement sessions in second half (3 for Villa, 1 for PSG) = 2 min. 1 more for the three goals. Seems fair to me.
DeleteEasy, football-focused and flowing game in Birmingham but good performance by Sanchez Martinez. He let the game flow, which was expected by all.
ReplyDeleteI must say PSG has changed this season. In Neymar, Messi, Mbappé’s era, such a scenario could’ve turned into a nightmare for the referee, parisian players would’ve panicked and blamed the referee for it. That was not the case today.
Well, today if any team had reasons to complain it was Villa, literally every decision was going in favor of PSG you just have to look at fouls statistic in this match. If I was a Villa fan I wouldn't be so happy with Sanchez Martinez. He missed Marquinhos elbowing Mcginn, didn't even whistle a foull but gave several very soft fouls to PSG in the 2nd half and added only 3 minutes.
DeleteSanchez Martinez is a very good referee, his last seasons in Spain have been 30 times better than Gil Manzano's. He's also more empathetic from time to now. If this UEFA season had arrived one year before for him, he would have gone to Euro and WCC. I find his no inclusion in that list a consequence of Gil Manzano having been number 1 until last month
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteHis performance in the West Ham/Leverkusen game last season probably cost him the chance to go to the euros.
DeleteJosé María Sánchez Martínez in AVLPSG
ReplyDeletehttps://files.fm/u/u8ncs7fgfv
27' very good advantage at 0:2
36' in general good management of conflict given that there was no contact after that kicking movement, of course a YC was possible
42' good YC AVL7 for reckless challenge, possible advantage not applied
45' offside mistake by AR2
46' play-on after potential SPA/illegal use of arm by PSG5 incident
48' missed YC AVL14 for SPA holding
53' missed YC AVL44 for SPA impeding
73' collision with a player :-)
81' debatable FK on the edge of the penalty area
88' possible YC AVL21 for reckless challenge
What happened to Gil Manzano last month / in his last UEFA game(s) for being excluded in the QF?
ReplyDelete