UEFA Champions League - Round of 16 - Referee Appointments Second Legs (I)

UEFA has announced the appointments of the match officials for the first package of Second Leg ties of UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

A scene from Real - ManU (c) Münchner Abendzeitung

The absolute crunch encounter of this stage, Manchester Utd. - Real Madrid, will be overseen by Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır being assessed by the referee committee's Chief Officer Pierluigi Collina. After his group stage matches Benfica - FC Barcelona, Real Madrid - Borussia Dortmund and Juventus - FC Chelsea, this has to be considered as another boost in his palmarès. The Turkish professional referee and former insurance agent also took charge of three matches at EURO 2012, including the semifinal between Spain and Portugal. Additionally, he accompanied the Portuguese referee team into the final as fourth official. The presence of Collina might also indicate that in case of a good performance, Çakır and the rest of the team could be vaulted into the favourite position with respect of awaiting an appointment for 2013 Wembley final.

At the same time (Tuesday, 20:45 CET), Slovenian Damir Skomina will blow the starting whistle in Dortmund between Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk. Having already whistled Shakhtar's home win over FC Chelsea in group stage, this match should definitely pose another reward of his stellar career during the past months, including several good performances at EURO 2012 and also in UEFA's Supercup final. It's furthermore remarkable that one of the most decisive heads in FIFA's referee committee, Denmark's Peter Mikkelsen, will attend Dortmund to observe the Slovenian officials being pre-listed for the next FIFA World Cup.

For Wednesday's matches, UEFA has again proven their will to break traditions and hazard novelties: Since the current UEFA referee category system was established, there have never been Elite Development Group referees in Champions League K.O. stage matches. This season, it's different.

Serbian official Milorad Mažić will head his team in the match between Paris S.G. and Valencia CF to be played at Paris' Parc des Princes. For the aspiring match official, who belonged to the pool of six referees who participated in 2011 UEFA Under-21 European Championship (in Denmark), it will be his fourth competitive Champions League match. After having refereed FC Barcelona - Spartak Moskva and Manchester Utd. - SC Braga, he was then appointed to take charge of the top clash between Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City. Committee member David R. Elleray's presence as UEFA referee observer in Paris underlines the high appreciation UEFA has got concerning this Balkan referee.

Juventus - Celtic certainly was the match with the clearest first leg result. Having beaten the Scottish side by 3:0, this match can be classified as a better practice match for Juventus, at least on paper. That was probably one of the reasons for UEFA to nominate the still quite (internationally) inexperienced Turkish match official Firat Aydınus for this match. Having sovereignly handled the encounters FC Bayern - Valencia CF, Dinamo Zagreb - Paris S.G. and finally Arsenal FC - Montpellier HSC, the professional referee from Istanbul gets another chance to advance. Serbian referee observer Zdravko Jokić will assess the officials' performances.

(c) M.M. Ilgaz

5 March 2013, 20:45 CET

Old Trafford, Manchester, England

Manchester United - Real Madrid CF (1:1)

Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR, photo)

Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)

Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR)

Additional Assistant Referee 1: Hüseyin Göçek (TUR)

Additional Assistant Referee 2: Mete Kalkavan (TUR)

Fourth Official: Emre Eyisoy (TUR)

UEFA Referee Observer: Pierluigi Collina (ITA)

UEFA Delegate: Rudolf Zavrl (SVN)

UEFA Referee Liaison Officer: David Allison (ENG)

(c) M.M. Ilgaz

5 March 2013, 20:45 CET

Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany

Borussia Dortmund - Shakhtar Donetsk (2:2)

Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN, photo)

Assistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič (SVN)

Assistant Referee 2: Bojan Ul (SVN)

Additional Assistant Referee 1: Slavko Vinčić (SVN)

Additional Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Ponis (SVN)

Fourth Official: Primož Arhar (SVN)

UEFA Referee Observer: Peter Mikkelsen (DEN)

UEFA Delegate: Jozef Kliment (SVK)

UEFA Referee Liaison Officer: Günter Risse (GER)

6 March 2013, 20:45 CET

Parc des Princes, Paris, France
Paris S.G. - Valencia CF (2:1)
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Igor Radojčić (SRB)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Danilo Grujić (SRB)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Milenko Vukadinović (SRB)
Fourth Official: Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)
UEFA Referee Observer: David R. Elleray (ENG)
UEFA Delegate: Geir Thorsteinsson (ISL)
UEFA Referee Liaison Officer: Michel Lebrun (FRA)

6 March 2013, 20:45 CET

Juventus Stadium, Torino, Italy
Juventus - Celtic Glasgow (3:0)
Referee: Firat Aydınus (TUR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Serkan Ok (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleks Tascioglu (TUR)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Barış Simsek (TUR)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Tolga Özkalfa (TUR)
Fourth Official: Çem Satman (TUR)
UEFA Referee Observer: Zdravko Jokić (SRB)
UEFA Delegate: Eduard Dervishaj (ESP)
UEFA Referee Liaison Officer: Fabrizio Malacart (ITA)


UEFA Referee Observers and UEFA Delegates for next week's Champions League matches:

FC Barcelona - AC Milan (0:2)
UEFA Referee Observer: Jaap Uilenberg (NED)
UEFA Delegate: Sune Hellströmer (SWE)
first referee-prediction: Pavel Královec (CZE)

Schalke 04 - Galatasaray (1:1)
UEFA Referee Observer: Charles Agius (MLT)
UEFA Delegate: David Findlay (SCO)
first referee-prediction: Pedro Proença (POR)

FC Bayern - Arsenal FC (3:1)
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (GRE)
UEFA Delegate: Pierino Lardi (SUI)
first referee-prediction(s): Nicola Rizzoli (ITA) or Olegário Benquerença (POR)

Málaga CF - FC Porto (0:1)
UEFA Referee Observer: Ilkka Koho (FIN)
UEFA Delegate: Martin Sturkenboom (NED)
first referee-prediction: Viktor Kassai (HUN)