UEFA has decided to appoint Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic to officiate the Chelsea vs. PSG round of 16 second leg, a referee both clubs have encountered several times. Paris has a balanced record with him, but the Blues have a particularly positive one.
Two days before the Chelsea vs. PSG match at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening in the Champions League round of 16 second leg, UEFA has revealed the referee for the match and, after the surprise of the first leg, the European body has made a safe choice.
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Indeed, it is the experienced Slovenian Slavko Vincic who will officiate this Chelsea vs. PSG match. At 46 years old, the Slovenian actually refereed the biggest match of his career in London, on the occasion of the 2024 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, which was played at Wembley, just a few miles away.
Overall, he hands out relatively few yellow cards, which can matter for the rest of the competition with suspensions, as he averages two per match this season in the Champions League. Not many penalties either, with two awarded in seven Champions League matches in the current campaign.
On PSG’s side, they have faced Mr. Vincic four times, including very recently in the PSG vs. Newcastle match (1-1). He had not hesitated to call a penalty early on, ultimately missed by Dembélé, and his record with PSG is rather positive overall since he was also the referee during the last Parisian trip to London, the Champions League semifinal first leg victory at Arsenal (1-0).
He was also there for the previous one, the 2-0 defeat against the same Arsenal… The last match he refereed with PSG was the big victory against AC Milan in October 2023 (3-0).
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On Chelsea’s side, they will see in this appointment a huge reason for hope since he was the referee for the 3-0 success against Barcelona last November, a result that would take the Blues to extra time against Paris. And in four matches refereed involving Chelsea, it’s four Blues victories at the end.
He was there for the round of 16 match against Benfica at the Club World Cup (4-1 after extra time, with a penalty called for Benfica), and also for the quarterfinal first leg in Porto in 2021. Another big victory, a Europa League round of 16 first leg against Kyiv (3-0) 7 years ago.
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