UCL: Man City Vs Real Madrid Game To Be Officiated By Romanian Referee István Kovács
After being appointed referee for the first leg of City's tie against Atletico Madrid, the 37-year-old UEFA's elite category referee has now made 10 appearances in the Champions League since 2018/19. He has issued 48 yellow cards and one red card in those ten games.
He dished out 5 yellow cards in City's game the previous round which City won 1-0 in the quarterfinal first-leg against another team from Madrid (Atletico).
Prior to the game against Atlético, he had also refereed the Man City's 5-1 group-stage win away to Club Brugge.
This was nothing compared to the 11 yellow cards he had given earlier this season (the joint second-most in a Champions League game ever) in the UCL group stage match between Sevilla vs Lille in November which Sevilla won 2-1.
He was also the referee for Barcelona’s 1-1 draw with Napoli in the Europa League knockout round play-offs in February.
It will be the first time that the Romanian official takes charge of a madridista fixture in the competition.
READ MORE: Reactions To Controversial VAR and Referee Decisions In Arsenal Vs Man United Game.
The game on Tuesday will be a test not only for the referee, but also for Pep Guardiola's team to show that they can truly overcome the 13-time champions Real Madrid.
Man City emerged 4-2 aggregate winners the last time both side met in the round-of-16 stage of competition in 2019/20 season, City won 2-1 in the both home and away tie respectively.
Los Blancos defeated English opposition Chelsea in the quater-final to set-up a semi-final tie against the Premier League Champions, with Carlo Ancelotti's team winning 5-4 on aggregate against Chelsea, following a thrilling 3-2 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu a fortnight ago.
Man City themselves were in the Spanish capital to secure their spot in the semi-finals, as Pep Guardiola's side survived a dreaded Atletico Madrid side, securing a hard fought 1-0 aggregate win.
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