THE UEFA announced, in the form of a statement issued through official platforms early this Monday morning, that Michael Oliver is the appointed referee for the match on the fourth round of the Champions League league stage, which will pit FC Porto and Napoli face to face, at the Estádio do Dragão.
The 41-year-old referee will lead an almost all-English team made up of assistants Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, fourth official Thomas Bramall and VAR Stuart Attwel. The only exception will be German Christian Dingert, who will be the AVAR of the game scheduled for 8pm (Mainland Portugal time) on Wednesday.
Michael Oliver is a well-known ‘face’ in national football, where his biggest ‘customer’ is Benfica, a club he has played with six times throughout his career, with a record of three wins (over Marseille, 2-1, Red Star, 1-2, and Nice, 0-2), two defeats (against Dinamo Zagreb, 1-0, and Internazionale, 0-2) and one draw (with Paris Saint-Germain, one ball).
Next comes Sporting, who himself refereed on three other occasions, culminating in a victory (over Légia Warsaw, 2-0), a draw (with Atalanta, 1-1) and a defeat (against Juventus, 2-1). The Dragons, on the other hand, played under his orders twice… both times ending in victories (over Galatasaray, 1-0, and Club Brugge, 0-4).
It is, however, necessary to remember that it was precisely the Englishman who judged Portugal’s elimination, in the quarter-finals of the 2024 European Championship, during the ‘fall’ against France, in the penalty shoot-out. Before that, he had already been present in a victory (over Croatia, 2-3) and a draw (with Spain, 1-1) for the Quinas team.
On his CV, he also has one game for Sporting de Braga (defeat against Real Madrid, 1-2), two for the national under-21 team (victory over the Netherlands, 5-4, and a draw against Poland) and many others for the under-19 team (victory over the Netherlands, 1-4, and defeat against Serbia, in a penalty shoot-out), at an earlier stage in his career.
FC Porto’s (delicate) accounts in the Champions League
FC Porto, remember, reaches the fourth round of the Champions League league stage without any points, due to the defeats suffered by Manchester City, by 0-2, Real Betis, by 3-2, and PSV, by 0-1, meaning they live in the bottom of the table, together with Lille and Slovan Bratislava.
Napoli, on the other hand, won one game (against Bodo/Glimt, 4-3) and lost the other two (against Arsenal, 0-1, and Villarreal, 3-1), so they have three points and are ranked 22nd, equal with Villarreal, Internazionale, Manchester United, Galatasaray, LASK Linz, Sabah, Feyenoord, Lens, Bodo/Glimt, Leipzig and AEK.
