Khaberni - The European Football Association "UEFA" announced today, Sunday, the assignment of English referee Michael Oliver to officiate the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals between Real Madrid and their guest Bayern Munich.
The anticipated match is scheduled to take place next Tuesday at the "Santiago Bernabeu" Stadium in Madrid.
Oliver, who is 41 years old and has held the international badge since 2012, will lead a refereeing team that includes assistants Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, while Jared Gillett and Italian Marco Di Bello will be responsible for the video technology room (VAR), and Andrew Madley will be the fourth official.
This will be the fifth time the English referee has officiated a Real Madrid match, where the Spanish giant previously lost in Oliver’s presence against Italian Juventus 1-3 in April 2018, despite their dramatic qualification at the time to the Champions League semifinals.
The Royal Club achieved victory in three other occasions in Oliver’s presence, against German Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the 2022 European Super Cup, and against Sporting Braga of Portugal 2-1 and Olympiacos of Greece 4-3 in the current edition of the Champions League.
Conversely, Oliver has officiated seven matches for Bayern Munich, during which the Bavarian club won six encounters against teams like Besiktas from Turkey and Atletico Madrid, Barcelona from Spain, Paris Saint-Germain from France, Bayer Leverkusen, in addition to defeating Flamengo from Brazil 4-2 in the Club World Cup; while the only draw was a 1-1 against Red Bull Salzburg from Austria in the 2021/2022 European round of 16.
Oliver recently officiated the Manchester City vs Liverpool match in the quarterfinals of the English FA Cup yesterday, Saturday, where City won by four goals to nil.
