UEFA have appointed Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers as the man in charge of Wednesday’s clash between Real Madrid and AS Roma in the first game of the Champions League Group Stage.
Björn Kuipers will referee the match between Real Madrid and Roma at the Santiago Bernabéu, corresponding to matchday one of the Champions League Group Stage (Wednesday 9pm CEST).
It will be the sixth time that the Dutchman has overseen a Whites’ game in this competition. The first Real Madrid match he covered was in the 2011/12 season, in the first leg of the round of 16 against CSKA in Moscow (1-1). In 2012/2013 he refereed the semi-final against Borussia Dortmund in the Signal Iduna Park (4-1), while in the 2013/14 season he was the referee in the final of la Decima against Atlético de Madrid (4 -1).
The last two matches were in the last campaign: the Group Stage matchday two fixture against Borussia Dortmund (1-3) and in the first leg of the semi-final in Munich against Bayern (1-2).
Source: Realmadrid.com
Kuipers is a referee with plenty of experience and shouldn’t have any issues in this game. Furthermore, this is only the first game of this 2018-19 edition of the Champions League for both sides so he won’t have much pressure. Still, he’s a reliable referee who should make things quite easy for both teams.