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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Connor O'Neill

Liverpool given Champions League referee who sent off furious Pep Guardiola

Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz will take charge of Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Inter Milan on Tuesday night.

Liverpool come into the game with a 2-0 advantage in their round of 16 tie after goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in the first-leg at the San Siro.

Lahoz will be assisted in his duties by Pau Cebrian and Roberto Diaz, while Ricardo de Burgos will be the fourth official at Anfield.

Lahoz has previously taken charge of four Liverpool Champions League ties, with the first coming against Ludogorets Razgrad back in November 2014.

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The Spaniard then took charge of the Reds’ 2-1 win over Manchester City at Etihad back in April 2018, before overseeing the 2-0 defeat to Red Star Belgrade a few months later.

The last Liverpool game Lahoz took charge of came back in April 2019 when goals from Naby Keita and Firmino handed Jurgen Klopp’s side a 2-0 win over FC Porto at Anfield.

However, it was the game against City that will be remembered by most supporters as Lahoz sent off City boss Pep Guardiola at half-time.

The City manager confronted the Spanish official for ruling out a goal in the second-leg as his team lost 5-1 on aggregate.

Already leading 1-0 thanks to Gabriel Jesus’ strike, Leroy Sane scored what he and City thought was their second goal of the game.

However, as the German raced away to celebrate, the goal was controversially ruled out for offside, prompting a tirade from Guardiola towards Lahoz as he made his way off the pitch at half-time.

"I know him from Spain so I could imagine that. I was polite, I was correct. Mateu Lahoz is a special guy, he likes to be different, he likes to be special,” Guardiola said post-match.

"He's a referee who likes to feel different, he's special. When everybody sees things he is going to see the opposite. It's too much to send me off because I didn't say any wrong word."

Lahoz was also placed in charge of last season’s final - which Chelsea won 1-0 against City at the Estadio do Dragao thanks to a first-half Kai Havertz goal.

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