PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

Undoubtedly the biggest match – Atletico Madrid v. Juventus – goes to Dr. Dreamy himself – Dr. Felix Brych of Germany (above). Not only is the good doctor quite easy on the eyes, he’s a damn good referee, having officiated the last Europa League final and at the World Cup.

My only hesitation is that Brych is not the paciest of referees – not by a long shot – and this should be a pacey match. It’ll be up to his assistant referees to be his eyes and ears if he gets pulled out of position.

England has two representatives this match day. Mark Clattenburg will referee Zenit St. Petersburg v. AS Monaco, while Martin Atkinson takes Bayer Leverkusen v. Benfica.

As for the English teams themselves, Arsenal will get Italy’s number two, Gianluca Rocchi, while Liverpool draws the excellent Swede, Jonas Eriksson, at Basel. Both these referees are good man managers and overall good referees, though Eriksson is one of my particular favorites.

Malmö FF – Olympiakos
Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Averyanov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Tikhon Kalugin (RUS)

Atlético Madrid – Juventus Turin
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Borsch (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Lupp (GER)

FC Basel – Liverpool FC
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klasenius (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Wärnmark (SWE)

Ludogorets – Real Madrid
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Damien MacGraith (IRL)

Zenit St Petersburg – AS Monaco
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Simon Beck (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Jake Collin (ENG)

Bayer Leverkusen – SL Benfica
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Mullarkey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Darren Cann (ENG)

Arsenal FC – Galatasaray
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Gianluca Cariolato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)

RSC Anderlecht – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)