The referee for Rangers’ Battle of Britain clash with Liverpool at Ibrox will bring back memories – after he was also in charge of their agonising Europa League Final defeat just five months ago.
Slovenian Slavko Vincic has been named the man in the middle by UEFA for the cross-border Champions League showdown and the 41-year-old will bring back unhappy memories after also officiating the Light Blues’ defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.
Vincic has been FIFA accredited since 2010 and has regularly officiated in Europe’s premier competition and Europa League. Liverpool are also familiar with him after he took charge of their Champions League last-16 tie against RB Leipzig last season.
But he was at the centre of a row recently when Barcelona boss hit out at the whistler for failing to award his side a last minute penalty in their Champions League defeat to Inter Milan.
The Spaniards were 1-0 down at the San Siro and Xavi was adamant they should have been awarded a spot kick when Inter’s Denzel Dumfries appeared to handle the ball in the area as he tried to head it away from Ansu Fati.
But Vincic signalled to play on and although there was a VAR check, no penalty was awarded. Xavi said: “It was crucial but I cannot say anything, I did not decide anything. The referee decided and he must be here to talk about what happened.”
The Catalans considered reporting the referee to UEFA but opted against it. Xavi said: “We spoke about it and we decided against doing it. I spoke to the president, Rafa, Jordi and Mateu and we took this decision together. I already complained and it’s quite rare for me.”
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