PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

They’re back!

In case you didn’t get enough of Dr. Dreamy and Mr. Smooth in the World Cup, the boys are back in town.

That’s right, there will be playoffs for Champions League spots across Europe on Tuesday, and some of UEFA’s top referees will be in the middle.

Chief amongst them will be The Man Himself, Nicola Rizzoli of Italy, whom we last saw kicking ass in the World Cup final in Brazil, and looking damn good doing it. He’ll be in Salzburg.

Arguably the two biggest games will be managed by Jonas Eriksson of Sweden and Milorad Mazic of Serbia, who made my life miserable for a few days in June by making an unpopular call. And also got me added to his Wikipedia page, so…thanks for that. I guess.

Carlos Velasco Carballo, who stood out in the World Cup for having pretty much the worst game in the history of ever, gets called up for Copenhagen v. Bayer Leverkusen. (I still love this piece about a fan who stopped him outside of the urinals in the airport and demanded an explanation for that game…)

And last but never, ever least, Dr. Dreamy himself – Dr. Felix Brych of Germany – will bring his awesome gorgeousness (see above) to Bucharest. Cheers, Romania.

RB Salzburg – Malmö FF
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Renato Faverani (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Andrea Stefani (ITA)

SSC Napoli – Athletic Club
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klasenius (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Wärnmark (SWE)

FC København – Bayer Leverkusen
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Alonso Fernández (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (ESP)

Steaua Bucharest – Ludogorets
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Borsch (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Markus Häcker (GER)

Besiktas JK – Arsenal FC
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)