Referee appointment for the second leg of 2025/26 UEFA Champions League semifinal, Bayern - PSG, to be played on 6 May 2026.
FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN (GER) - PARIS SAINT GERMAIN (FRA)
Referee: João Pinheiro POR
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: Espen Eskas NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen NOR
UEFA Delegate: Arturs Gaidels LVA
So according to the last comments on the blog, it should be Pinheiro.
ReplyDeleteVery underwhelming, Pinheiro so undeserving to be given such a game but with politics anything is possible by now
ReplyDeleteLet someone explain to me what exactly Pinheiro has done to deserve officiating such an important match? He’s clearly a favorite of the REFcom and it feels like unnecessary favoritism toward a referee who isn’t any better than many others, yet keeps getting top assignments every time…
ReplyDeleteIf true about Pinheiro, I agree most undeserving appointment this year. Considering that there is a chance for english team in the final and that Oliver possibly coul be out of that final it would make sense to appoint him considering the very good season he had.
ReplyDeleteWhilst he was good on the EL SF there is a huge difference reffing 2 English sides willing to play football and reffing an ENGSPA clash with so much at stake
ReplyDelete21:00 CET - Munich (Allianz Arena)
ReplyDeleteFC BAYERN MÜNCHEN (GER) - PARIS SAINT GERMAIN (FRA)
Referee: João Pinheiro POR
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: Espen Eskås NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen NOR
UEFA Delegate: Arturs Gaidels LVA
Considering Pinheiro has been handed this game, now I must say Mariani was a better option, or the Italian is among the many for the final in Budapest
Delete@Tevinjm: As I wrote on the other post, that in case of PSG-Arsenal Final, Mariani should be consider as a realistic possibility…
DeleteWell, congratulations to Pinheiro and his team.
ReplyDeleteBut, frankly, is he better than Eskas?…
Yes - after all, I think this is the hardest element to justify.
DeleteEskas's style where he sometimes acts in an arrogant manner towards players (it is an act and he is not an arrogant person) was deemed as a bad fit for such a 'star-laden' match and they preferred to choose the inobstrusive Pinheiro instead?
Yes, Pinheiro is better than Eskas...
DeleteSure that Pinheiro is must better then Eskas
DeleteTypical by committee they put out VAR after mistake and problem is solved! A dream for other refeees...
ReplyDeleteUCL Final candidates
ReplyDelete1) Oliver
2) Letexier
3) Mariani
4) Makkelie
Like in EL with Rumsas and Peljto, the better referee ist the 4O...
ReplyDeleteNothing against Pineiro and nothing about new names for these important matches, but appointments should have a minmum of consistency. After Pinheiros last games in Turin/Gala and Strasbourg/Mainz, there is no consistency to appoint him for this SF.
Again: Nothing against new names. For example, Sieberts appointment is consistent.
A game for Eskas in the semis would have been, too.
Do you know that both Eskas and Rune Pedersen the referee observer are from Norway? How could Eskas had a game with Pedersen as a observer? Is not a domestic appointment, you should know it.
Delete@Ichigo:
DeleteI assume that UEFA, in the event of wanting to nominate Espen Eskas, would have appointed another observer and not the other way around, that the already assigned Rune Pedersen prevented Eskas' nomination.
+1
Deleteby the way, where is our friend Ahmed? he should be happy that Pinheiro got the match.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had the power of manifestation he has...
DeleteTo be honest, Joao Pinheiro's nomination for a Champions League semifinal does not fundamentally surprise me: In the summer he officiated the Super Cup and in the current season he, as our friend never tired of repeating, largely or even completely did without VARs. Of course, this is not the only criterion that makes a good referee, but it does at least make him more deployable than other colleagues who were significantly more in the public criticism. The only reason I did not expect him, however, was that he had already officiated a first-leg match in the Europa League and was therefore excluded for that reason. He also seems to be highly regarded by FIFA, so I would not consider him a candidate at the World Cup who would not get past the group stage.
DeleteThis is certainly a substitution. Pinheiro was named yesterday, May 3rd, for a Liga 2 match in Portugal. Friday night, he was removed from that match with the indication that it was due to physical management. Who did he replace? Marciniak?
DeleteGood Luck Pinheiro.
ReplyDeleteSorry but this is ridiculous. Pinheiro has clearly not the experience to handle the decisive game between the probably two best teams this season. His performances in second leg games, which were much less important than this one were often medicore. It’s also unfair to Eskas, who is in my view the better referee.
ReplyDeleteI i mentioned last week after the game that he officiated in europe league i said after this incredible perfomance the next game will be bayern vs psg
ReplyDeleteEvery one satisfied now that joao pinheiro is the best referee in europe
I would like to mention 3 points about this nomination from João Pinheiro:
ReplyDelete1) Maybe this was a last minute call because he was firstly nominated for a domestically game played yesterday
2) I don’t think this appointment is not deserved but surely he should have a more solid path in CL. After what happened to Vinci and Kovacs, Rosetti could’ve burning another referee but this time a young one
3) If the idea is to give Oliver the final, why not appoint Taylor to this game given that having referee a first leg EL SF doesn’t seem to be a constraint anymore ?
Regarding the comparison with Marianni… IMO it’s unfair to say that the Italian is better than him. They were promoted at the same time to the elite category and besides the nationality, there aren’t much, to not say nothing, that distinguish both.
It is quite obvious, in my opinion, that Mariani was the person written down for this game but Rosetti got the jitters about the level of the Italian referee and took the opportunity to change him (but the VAR remained; I doubt very much that Martins got rejected if he is AVAR here). I don't know who "deserved" it more, but the switch itself makes sense and I would "agree" with the Italian manager: I didn't watch Liverpool-PSG, but the level shown by Mariani in CzechRep-Denmark was not good enough to justify another really big game (way too much delay and visible insecurity in making his calls). Meanwhile, Pinheiro's performance in Juve-Gala was more-or-less good overall. The overall comments about the Portuguese are too harsh: he is a very good referee. HOWEVER, I think this assignment could well turn out to be a mistake. In 2016, the repeated semifinals in the Champions League turned out to be a disaster, with clear and important refereeing mistakes (as a result of mental fatigue?) in both games. Pinheiro's level, being subbed late into Juve-Gala, had clearly dropped in that match from what he had shown before. And, this is probably the biggest match of the season in the whole Champions League competition. Rosetti could be the victim, most of all, of being too stubborn (and, perhaps too craven?) in terms of how he assessed the refereeing in Barca-Atletico; if Mariani's level caused such concern, then the correct choice would have been to forgive Kovacs. The non-appointments to the two PSG-Bayern legs (Hernandez; Mariani) are almost more interesting and certainly more telling than the actual appointments! The lack of big names from Italy and Spain are clearly hurting the committee a lot at the moment.
DeleteI'm struggling for a fourth name in the Europa/Conference tomorrow: Mariani, Hernandez, Nyberg (surely with Velasco in Birmingham), and ??.
I agree.
DeletePinheiro is plan B.
Gözübüyük as the 4th name?
DeleteMeler would be my guess as 4th name.
DeleteWould also be nice to see Letexier somewhere to erase some doubts...
I also think, that Mariani was planned for Wednesday at some point (maybe his domestic appointment on Friday also supports that).
But wouldn't be a different explanation, that he is now plan A for a PSG-Arsenal final?
I was thinking his season was over but Meler may be an option indeed. He was previously observed by Velasco. He was again on duty in Greece this weekend for Pana-AEK. I don't know how was his performance yesterday, but 2 weeks ago MikaelW's comments were very positive in Oly-Pana derby about him.
DeleteSorry but Meler‘s performances this season were too bad for a semifinal even in the conference league. Look for example at the penalty in the Arsenal-Leverkusen game.
DeleteNo wonder why UEFA refereeing is getting worse....
ReplyDeleteFelix is out of the Champions League KO Stage for much less...
ReplyDeleteIn this scenario:
Delete1) Arsenal advance against Atletico tomorrow
2) PSG advance against Bayern on Wednesday
3) The refereeing in the first SF is deemed impermissible vis the final appmnt
I think that Felix (Zwayer) will referee the CL final.
It's interesting that no one has yet realized the connection between the president of the Portuguese federation and Pinheiro rise; having a former referee with voting power and influence within UEFA is a very important point in understanding all of this.
ReplyDeleteFrom now on joao pinheiro must dream champions league final
ReplyDeleteWorld Cup final too
Delete"From now on" Joao Pinheiro should probably better think first about his semifinal appearance. ;-)
DeleteMy conclude is next: Ok, its good to give Pinheiro the UCL semifinal becouse UEFA need new names in future years. Then, i would tottaly exclude Zwayer and Mariani from UCL final chances based on merit. Oliver remains no 1 candidate for final,Leteixer is no 2. If UCL final will be PSG-Arsenal, i said that referee comitte should have guts to appoint Makkelie there, or, gave a chance to Nyberg or Daniel Siebert .
ReplyDeleteSo, at this point, I think we have to ask ourselves, looking at this appointment, why the decision was made so late, only after the Portuguese referee was replaced for the domestic match he had originally been assigned to.
ReplyDeleteAnd we can also draw conclusion that observers appointed days before don't mean in all cases that they have already a selected referee.
If they had already known they wanted to reappoint Pinheiro after last week Conference League match, they might have told the Portuguese federation to wait, even though, to be fair, that may not be strictly necessary.
One could imagine that they had someone else in mind, and of course, given the name on VAR, the name that comes to mind is Mariani. But then why put Pinheiro in instead? I don't see such a big difference in level.
I agree with Mikael that Mariani isn't quite at the level required to handle these matches, despite being pushed more and more. But the Portuguese referee isn't on a completely different level either, at least in my view, though I could be wrong.
In any case, ZwayerBrasil is right, because what he wrote is exactly what I was thinking too. At this point, overlooking mistake after mistake, even if, to be fair, not all of them are directly the Portuguese referee's fault, it no longer makes sense that Zwayer has been kept out for the entire Champions League knockout stage.
In the end, it seems that with some referees they act one way, and with others they act differently.
Now one could even imagine Zwayer being appointed directly to the Champions League final, but that wouldn't make any sense to me. At the very least, he could have had one prior appearance in the knockout phase.
There are many unclear points, the committee seems to be going wherever the wind blows. And above all, what disappoints me the most is that not everyone is treated the same way. They seem determined to push Pinheiro forward at all costs, despite some obvious mistakes.
At this point, I don't know what else to say.
Logically speaking, it seems that what matters most is whether they like a referee's style, since errors are not considered.
They probably appreciate, as Mikael says, the way he interacts with players, but others do too.
The fact that the Norwegian referee hasn't been given an appointment to work and develop at this level is quite disappointing.
There are many things happening behind closed doors.
In any case, these two appointments for the second legs will certainly be interesting, surely we could never have imagined that.
Its not he, is she but it's ok 😂😂
DeleteWell, after all… our friend Ahmed was right!
ReplyDeleteYeah, show off Ahmed nevertheless best case scenario
DeleteWell good luck to Pinheiro who may not deserve this appointment if one is fully realistic and honest but it is a massive opportunity to announce himself on the top stage with a good performance.
ReplyDeleteIt’s the first time in a long time that there is not in the SF someone who already have done a European final and even more UCL final, no ?
ReplyDeleteWhere is Glenn Nyberg? With how deep UEFA has had to dig for these semifinal appointments, I can’t believe the talented Swede was overlooked.
ReplyDeleteMy honest assessment of Nyberg, not to go against him.
DeleteI'm just taking this opportunity, based on your question, to share my view, and I think this also explains why the committee hasn't considered him for a major Champions League assignment so far, just like what happened with Eskas (but for Eskas, reason can be different).
In my opinion, Nyberg has shown, at least up to now, and of course his career may still evolve in the future, no doubt about that, that he is a reliable referee, but only up to a certain point. He is very good from a physical standpoint, he lets the game flow, he has elements of modern refereeing; however, I think that when it has come to making important decisions in several situations, he had to rely on VAR.
I'm not saying that all the incidents he reviewed were easy, far from it, many were actually quite difficult, but he hasn't given the impression, at least so far, of having that extra factor, especially in the technical reading of situations inside the penalty area. This seems quite evident based on some key on-field reviews he ended up conducting.
There was a period when there was a bit more focus on him, remember the PSG game with Attwell as VAR, now it seems slightly less, but he still remains a strong name from a FIFA perspective, since he has officiated a FIFA final and will go to the World Cup. However, to be fair, within UEFA competitions I don't see him comparable to the other Top Elite at moment.
He gives the impression of being able to do things well, but by applying his own style, with less adaptability and smartness compared to other referees. Still, we are talking about an already high level here reached by him,I’m certainly not referring to basic things, this is just to explain why he hasn't been considered beyond a certain point.
Of course, I might be wrong, but this is my reading of the Swedish referee, who in any case has plenty of time ahead of him to prove himself.
I think tomorrow he will appear in a semifinal, either ECL or EL.
Interesting Chefren,
DeleteHow much does the FIFA-games affect UEFA's view on a referee? For instance, Nyberg had quite a good Arab Cup that also finished in a hectic (but overall) well refereed final. Doesn't that prove something in regards to Uefa games?
I hope I'm not jumping to conclusions, but I see both appropriate and inappropriate treatment from the committee towards Nyberg in this knockout stage. The last match he refereed was Brugge vs. Atlético de Madrid in the playoff round for access to the round of 16. After that, we haven't seen him again in this Champions League. And in my view, it wouldn't be a problem if he refereed the return leg in Munich, even more so than Pinheiro.
DeleteIts time for everyone to apologize to Ahmed!
ReplyDelete😭😭
Delete