Damir Skomina: Who is the Champions League final referee and why did Neymar call him a ‘disgrace’?

Liverpool and Tottenham‘s preparations for Saturday’s Champions League final in Madrid will be nearing their conclusion, but one thing that cannot be mitigated for are difficult refereeing decisions.

The two English clubs will no doubt be hoping that the man chosen by Uefa to referee the match, Damir Skomina, has a controversy-free final. He will be assisted by his countrymen Jure Praprotnik and Robert Vukan, while Antonio Mateu Lahoz of Spain is the fourth official.

VAR will be active in the match, with the video assistant referee being Danny Makkelie of the Netherlands, assisted by Pol van Boekel (Netherlands), Felix Zwayer (Germany), and Mark Borsch (Germany).

Who is Damir Skomina?

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Age: 42

Nationality: Slovenian

Cards record: 173 yellow cards and 7 red cards in 48 matches this season

Skomina began refereeing as a 15-year-old and has taken charge of international matches since 2002. “I played football, but was told by doctors at the time to stop because they thought I had a health problem,” he said.

“So, I started refereeing as a way of staying in football. A few years later, I had another medical exam, and was told that everything was fine – so I was free to continue refereeing.”

He managed proceedings at the Europa League final between Ajax and Manchester United in 2017, as well as the Uefa Super Cup match in 2012. He was the fourth official for the 2013 Champions League final.

What controversial decisions has he been involved in?

Skomina made headlines earlier this season when awarding Manchester United a dramatic stoppage time penalty against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16. BT Sport pundit Michael Owen said at the time “It’s not a penalty in a million years,” while Thomas Tuchel said there was “no logic” in the decision.

THE UNTHINKABLE HAS HAPPENED!

Marcus Rashford converts from the spot after VAR awards the visitors a late, late penalty!

Man Utd are through, PSG are out. Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/03NMqxQUj6

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 6, 2019

Read more: Tottenham team news: The expected 4-2-3-1 line-up

PSG’s injured forward Neymar was equally outspoken, saying: “It’s a disgrace. Four guys who know nothing about football watch a slow-motion replay in front of the television.

“What can [Kimpembe] do with his hand while his back is turned?”

Skomina also refereed the first leg of the last 16 tie between Ajax and Real Madrid, ruling out a Nicolas Tagliafico goal for the Dutch side after VAR consultation. His decision was that Dusan Tadic was offside and interfering with play, by standing in front of Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at the moment of the header.

Skomina took charge of Liverpool’s home group match this season against Napoli, carding Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson in a 1-0 victory. In total he has refereed Liverpool five times, of which they have lost four matches and won just one. In those games he gave out nine yellow cards.

He officiated Liverpool’s 5-2 win over Roma in last season’s Champions League semi-final, wrongly flagging Edin Dzeko for offside and not giving a Trent Alexander-Arnold handball during the match. Roma president James Pallotta said at the time: “It is very clear VAR is needed in the Champions League because you just can’t let stuff like this happen.”

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He has presided over three Tottenham matches, two draws and a loss, in which he’s issued four yellow cards and one red.

Last summer he refereed three World Cup matches – Colombia vs Japan, England vs Belgium (group stage) and Sweden vs Switzerland. He gave out red cards to Colombia’s Carlos Sanchez and Sweden’s Michael Lang.