UEFA appoint referee for Champions League match between Barcelona and Manchester City

We have an official whistle blower to take care of Wednesday's gigantic match.

UEFA announced the referee assignments for Matchweek 3 of the Champions League group stage, and Milorad Mazic from Serbia has been appointed as match official for the game between Barcelona and Manchester City at Camp Nou. This will be Mazic's third Champions League assignment this season (Rostov 4-1 Ajax, Benfica 1-1 Besiktas).

While he's not one of the most famous referees, Mazic is one of the top officials in the game. He's fair, doesn't like to shine and isn't fond of too many bookings (4.46 yellow cards/game average), knowing how to conduct a football match without having to show cards all the time.

The interesting fact about Mazic's appointment is that this will be the fourth time in the last five seasons he's been assigned as referee for a Manchester City match in the Champions League. City won only one of the first three games officiated by Mazic, so there's no need for conspiracy theories.

Mazic was the referee in two Barça matches in his career, both at Camp Nou in the Champions League group stage, against Sparta Moscow (3-2 win, 2012) and AC Milan (3-1, 2013).

So the takeaway here is: it's a very good referee who is familiar with Camp Nou and there won't be many bookings. We should have a fun game with very little interference from the man with the whistle.