UEFA has named the refereeing team for the return match of the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League between Turkish Fenerbahce and Dynamo Kyiv, which will be held next Wednesday, July 27, in Istanbul.
All judges represent Italy. The main referee of the upcoming fight will be 43-year-old Massimiliano Irrati. Filippo Meli and Domenico Rocca will help him on the lines. The fourth official is Gianluca Manganiello.
Irrati has been a FIFA referee since 2017. For all the time he worked in only 13 international matches, 7 of which were at the club level.
It is noteworthy that the Italian will officiate a Champions League match for only the second time in his career. His debut in this tournament also came in the 2nd round of qualification - last season. Moreover, in that match, Iratti worked just in Istanbul, where Galatasaray and the Dutch PSV met (1:2).
Of the remaining six European Cup matches that appear on Irrati's track record, there are 6 Europa League matches (5 in the qualifying rounds, 1 in the group).
Iratti has not yet served matches involving Dynamo Kyiv, but this referee is already familiar with Ukrainian football: in the 2019/20 season, he worked at the match of the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League between Montenegrin Buduchnost and Lugansk Zorya. That meeting ended with the victory of the Ukrainian team with a score of 3: 1, and Iratti himself showed 6 yellow cards for the match.
As for the degree of severity of the chief referee of the return match between Dynamo and Fenerbahce, Iratti shows an average of 4 yellow cards per match, and removals are noted in about every third match. With the same frequency, the Italian appoints a penalty.
Job statistics Massimiliano Irrati at international matches