Liverpool’s Champions League final with Real Madrid draws ever closer.
Now less than three weeks before the sides meet in Kiev, the man tasked with refereeing the game has been named. Milorad Mazic of Serbia will be in charge on May 26 – a name some Liverpool supporters may remember.
The 45-year-old was in charge when Jürgen Klopp’s side took on their fiercest rivals Manchester United in the Europa League last 16 second leg two seasons ago.
The first leg of that tie had finished 2-0 at Anfield, though Mazic awarded a first half penalty to United after Anthony Martial was deemed to have been tripped by Nathaniel Clyne. Martial scored the spot kick shortly after the half hour mark, giving United hope of salvaging the tie.
However, the penalty ended up being nothing more than consolation for Louis van Gaal’s side. Philippe Coutinho scored shortly before half-time, making it 3-1 to Liverpool on aggregate. Being an away goal, this meant United would need to score a further three times without reply to seal their progress. The Brazilian’s goal proved to be the final goal of the night, Liverpool going on to make it to the final.
Mazic’s only other game involving Liverpool came in 2011: a 1-0 Europa League win over Sparta Prague.
This season, Mazic has overseen four Champions League matches as well as two games in the Europa League. He was also in charge of last summer’s Confederation Cup final between Chile and Germany.
Mazic was also the referee when Real Madrid beat Sevilla in the 2016 European Super Cup. Zinedine Zidane’s side had been trailing 2-1 with the game heading into stoppage time. Sergio Ramos has equalised shortly before full-time, sending it to extra time. The referee soon showed a red card to Sevilla’s Timothée Kolodziejczak for his second bookable offence, with Dani Carvajal scoring the winner for Real shortly before the end of extra time.
