Referee Szymon Marciniak and his officiating crew have drawn praise for the way they handled the game between AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund last night.
Marciniak refereed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France on 18 December 2022 in Qatar, the 2018 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid and the 2023 Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter.
That means he knows the big occasions, and therefore he was not phased by refereeing in front of over 81,000 fans at the Signal Iduna Park, with La Gazzetta dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) speaking about the key incidents.
It was a fairly calm match for Marciniak but he did produce five yellow cards in the first half alone to keep the intensity and aggression within the game under control, which proved to be a success.
In the second half Alessandro Florenzi went down inside the box trying to get on the end of a cross, claiming he had been pulled back by Bynoe-Gittens. The contact was light, and though VAR checked the right decision was reached.
Dude was a bit fast on the cards and then just stopped