Arsenal learn referee for Atletico semi-final

UEFA have confirmed the referees to take charge of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final first leg match away to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

UEFA have officially confirmed their officiating team for the Champions League semi-final first leg, with an all-Dutch set of officials both on the pitch and in the VAR room.

Danny Makkelie will be the referee for the match, assisted by Hessel Steegstra and Jan de Vries. Serdar Gozubuyuk will be the fourth official.

Then Dennis Higler will be on VAR, assisted by Pol van Boekel, to complete the team of officials working on the Madrid game.

43-year-old Makkelie is an experienced Champions League official, refereeing multiple semi-finals in the past.

The referee took on the Real Madrid-Chelsea semi in 2021, the Villarreal-Liverpool semi in 2022, and Arsenal fans may remember he refereed the Arsenal-Bayer Leverkusen second leg just last month.

That was one of four Arsenal games Makkelie has refereed, with the others being a 2-0 Champions League group win over Basel, a 4-2 Europa League semi-final win over Valencia, and a 1-0 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich.

But Atletico fans will be even more familiar with the referee, as he’s taken their games on seven occasions. Notably, he’s shown red cards to Atleti players in two of their last three matches under him.

That being said, Atletico’s most recent match involving Makkelie was a routine 6-0 group stage win over Sparta Prague, so it’s not all bad news.

Arsenal fans will hope the post-match talk is about their team’s positive performance, rather than about the officiating.

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