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UEFA have appointed Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers as the referee in charge of Wednesday’s clash between Liverpool and Real Madrid in the return leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals.
Per Realmadrid.com
Björn Kuipers will referee the Liverpool-Real Madrid match at Anfield, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals (Wednesday, 9pm CEST). The Dutchman will referee our team for the eighth time in this competition. The last game was this season’s group stage matchday six encounter against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Alfredo Di Stéfano, which Real Madrid won 2-0.
The first Real Madrid game he refereed was in 2011/12, in the first leg of the round of 16 against CSKA in Moscow (1-1). In 2012/2013 he refereed the first leg of the semi-finals against Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park (4-1) and in the 2013/14 season he was in charge of the La Décima final against Atlético de Madrid (4-1).
In 2017/18 he oversaw Real Madrid’s win in matchday two of the Group Stage against Borussia Dortmund (1-3) and the first leg of the semi-finals in Munich against Bayern (1-2). The following season he refereed Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Roma at the Santiago Bernabéu in the first match of the Champions League group stage.
This return leg will be a very intense match between both sides, so having an experienced referee like Kuipers will help both sides.
Real Madrid have a 3-1 lead on aggregate, so Liverpool will need to win at least 2-0 in order to advance to the Semifinals. Los Blancos will be without Lucas Vazquez, who was set to start as the right-back but suffered and injury in El Clasico.