Champions League Referee Appointments - Facts and Stats MD3

Matches on Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Spartak Moskva 18:00 Benfica (G), refereed by Mark Clattenburg (England)

• On the first matchday of this Champions League season, Clattenburg already oversaw a match with Russian involvement when Zenit St.Petersburg were beaten by Málaga CF in Spain.
• It will be Clattenburg's fourth involvement in a match joined by a Russian team, until now, the matches always ended with the result 3-0 (1x as win, 2x as loss).
• His second assistant referee Stephen Child ran the lines in two matches with Benfica's involvement during the last two Champions League seasons (1-2 loss at home vs Schalke, 2-0 win at home vs Zenit).

Nordsjælland 20:45 Juventus Turin (E), refereed by Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

• For the 1978 born internet entrepreneur Aytekin, who has a Turkish migratory background, it will be his first Champions League match.
• Having been awarded the FIFA badge in 2011, he managed to be promoted to First Group after merely one season where he handled two Europa League group stage matches.
• He will be accompanied, among others, by Stefan Lupp, who has joined FIFA Olympic Games in 2012 and assisted Germany's no.1/2 Felix Brych in Estadio Vicente Calderón last week, when Spain drew France in the World Cup qualifiers.

Shakhtar Donetsk 20:45 Chelsea London (E), refereed by Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

• For Damir Skomina, who will perform his 17th match in the Champions League, it is not the first time to handle a duel between a Ukrainian and English team. In late 2009, he handled the World Cup 2010 qualifier between both national teams, where Ukraine won and he had to send off the English goalkeeper for DOGSO very early in the game.
• While he only took charge of a match with Shakhtar's involvement once (CL qualifiers in 2007), it will be his third match within six months with Chelsea's involvement, having taken control over their quarterfinal vs Benfica (2-1) and the Super Cup final vs Atlético (1-4 loss) as consequence of their previous Champions League win.
• This match will continue his record with English teams. After clashes like the already mentioned quarterfinal, Benfica vs Man.United, Napoli vs Man.City, last month's top clash in Group D between Real Madrid and Man.City and this one lying ahead in Donetsk, he will have refereed seven Champions League matches in a row with English involvement.

BATE 20:45 Valencia CF (F), refereed by Craig Thomson (Scotland)

• It will be the first Champions League match for Elite referee Craig Thomson in this season.
• While he has never come across a Belarussian team in his international palmarès, the Scottish lawyer can already exhibit four matches with Valencia CF's involvement - they never could win under Thomson (the most meaningful loss was at their domestic rivals Atlético Madrid in the semifinal of 2011/12 Europa League (2-4)).

OSC Lille 20:45 Bayern München (F), refereed by Martin Atkinson (England)

• Atkinson already met both teams once: Bayern defeated CFR Cluj in the Champions League in 2010; additionally he oversaw the 1-2 loss of the French side against Sporting in Europa League, also in 2010.
• With 64 yellow cards in his previous 13 Champions League matches (= nearly 5 yellows/match), he counts to those of the currently active officials with the highest card average.

FC Barcelona 20:45 Celtic (G), refereed by Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

• Florence's Gianluca Rocchi, who is on the short list for 2014 World Cup and also joined 2012 Olympic Games, already whistled one match of both involved teams: while Barcelona managed to defeat Panathinaikos in 2010 (3-0), Celtic lost against Hamburg in Europa League in 2009 (0-1).
• Celtic was already handled by an Italian team in this Champions League period, when Nicola Rizzoli took charge of their draw with Benfica at the first matchday. The fourth official in both encounters is called Riccardo Di Fiore.

Galatasaray 20:45 CFR Cluj (H), refereed by Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

• The Istanbul club has quite terrific associations with this Italian Elite referee: they managed a clear win at Panathinaikos (3-1) in 2009 (Europa League).
• It is certainly no coincidence that UEFA sends an official belonging to the Elite Group, who by the way handled Borussia Dortmund vs Ajax Amsterdam at the very first matchday. Galatasaray's matches were quite intense; after many controversial issues after some missed penalty kicks in Manchester, Norway's Tom Hagen experienced the high difficulty related to the intense atmosphere of this Turkish stadium.
• Mauro Tonolini and Lorenzo Manganelli, Tagliavento's assistant referees, both assisted in a match with Turkish involvement last week, when they ran Daniele Orsato's lines in the World Cup qualifier between Hungary and Turkey (3-1) 

Man.United 20:45 Braga (H), refereed by Milorad Mažić (SRB)

• After his participation at 2011 Under-21 EURO, Serbias' no.1 was quickly promoted to Elite Development and received the highest amount of matches in last season's Europa League roster (6). In his last match, the first leg of a round of 16 clash between Udinese and AZ Alkmaar, he sent off a Dutch defender after only 65 seconds for DOGSO.
• Having performed his Champions League debut at Barcelona's Camp Nou on matchday 1, he now may experience the atmosphere at the "Theatre of Dreams", Manchester's legendary Old Trafford.

Matches on Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Zenit 18:00 Anderlecht (C), refereed by Ivan Bebek (CRO)

• After having joined the prospective list of 2010 World Cup, as part of which he joined 2009 Under-20 World Cup, Croatian Ivan Bebek was relegated by UEFA from the former Premier Development Group into the current First Group of referees due to too many crucial mistakes also observed by UEFA's chief officer in terms of refereeing Pierluigi Collina. This time he will be observed by committee member Kyros Vassaras of Greece.
• In his career, he already refereed three Champions League matches (Lazio Roma vs Werder Bremen in 2007, Bordeaux vs CFR Cluj in 2008, Lyon vs Schalke in 2010) and sent off four players in these clashes. In addition, he issued 112 yellow cards and 10 sending-offs in his 23 international club competition matches.
• 1977 born Bebek refereed both clubs once, as he was in charge of Zenit's 1-1 draw at home vs Nacional (2010) and Anderlecht's 5-3 win over Lokomotiv Moskva in Europa League last season. 

FC Porto 20:45 Dynamo Kyiv, refereed by Pavel Královec (CZE)

• Currently joining the short list for the next World Cup, Pavel Královec has refereed more FIFA competition matches than Champions League matches (7/4). He joined last year's Under-17 World Cup and 2012 Olympic Games in Great Britain.
• His first match in this Champions League season was the top clash between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund where he awarded a controversial and much debated penalty to the English side in the very last minute of play.
• Like in this previous match, he will be accompanied by Slovakian assistant Roman Slysko for some reason, who had accompanied Lubos Michel in his active time as European and worldwide top referee.

Dinamo Zagreb 20:45 PSG, refereed by Firat Aydinus (TUR)

• Turkey's Firat Aydinus did not need that many UEFA club competition matches to be promoted to Elite Development. He gave his Champions League debut in the matchday 1 match between Bayern München and Valencia CF, where he awarded a penalty to the Germans and sent off a Valencia player.
• Dinamo Zagreb were already handled by a Turkish crew in this Champions League record, when they managed to beat Maribor in the play-offs (referee was Cüneyt Cakir).

Arsenal London 20:45 Schalke 04, refereed by Jonas Eriksson (SWE)

• Swedish official Jonas Eriksson will take control over his first match in London in his Champions League roster. He only attended once a match in England, when Man. City drew Napoli last year.
• Eriksson as well as Schalke 04 certainly have pleasant associations with each other. His appointment for and performance in the round of 16 2nd leg in 2010/11 between Schalke 04 and Valencia CF meant the key to international progress, only one year later, he was present at EURO 2012, while Schalke managed to qualify for the next round in that season.

Montpellier HSC 20:45 Olympiacos, refereed by Daniele Orsato (ITA)

• Currently joining Elite Development, Florence's electrician Daniele Orsato will take charge of his second Champions League match at La Mosson Stadium, after having been in charge of Dinamo Zagreb vs FC Porto on matchday 1. He is the only referee in this season's Champions League roster - so far - without any card.
• At the start of 2012, Orsato did not receive any match due to a failed fitness test and two Europa League group stage encounters were obviously enough for UEFA to promote him to the group he currently joins.

Málaga CF 20:45 AC Milan, refereed by Pedro Proenca (POR)

• 2012 Champions League and European championship final referee Pedro Proenca will stay on the Iberian peninsula this matchday. 
• It will be his third match with AC Milan's involvement, after they drew FC Zürich in 2009 (CL) and lost at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid in 2010.

Borussia Dortmund 20:45 Real Madrid, refereed by Viktor Kassai (HUN)

• 2011's best referee of the world, Viktor Kassai of Hungary, will take control over the probably most promising clash of the whole matchday.
• While he was never in charge of a match joined by Borussia Dortmund, he was the man in the middle when Real Madrid failed to qualify for last season's Champions League final by a penalty-shoot-out-loss.
• In 20 Champions League matches, Kassai established a record of only one sending-off and merely 3,9 yellow cards per game.

Ajax Amsterdam 20:45 Man. City, refereed by Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)

• Norway's Svein Moen, the youngest of the current 22 Elite referees, will perform his eleventh match on Champions League level, where he only issued 23 yellow cards and one correct sending-off for a dive.
• Although he never refereed any match of Ajax Amsterdam, neither of Man. City, Moen refereed Alkmaar's 0-5 loss against Anzhi Makhachkala a few weeks ago.

Check the full appointments here.