This week’s biggest game is no doubt Real Madrid v. Atletico Madrid Wednesday, and I’m sure none of my regular readers will be surprised that I’m super excited about it. Not because it will be a great match (which it no doubt will be), but because it will be refereed by the one, the only: Dr. Dreamy. Yes, German referee
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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
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Let’s talk about something besides Mark Clattenburg and Manchester United, shall we? There are two big derbies this week: Liverpool v. Everton and Arsenal v. Spurs. (Though, let’s face it, the way my poor Spurs are playing right now, the North London derby may not be much of a contest…) Two of England’s top three FIFA-rated referees will be in action
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Ashley Young is the new Gareth Bale. And I don’t mean that in a good way. You see, the last year Gaz played for Tottenham, he was yellow carded for diving so many times it became a joke between my friends and I (all Spurs fans). Every time one of us – usually me – would trip on the sidewalk
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Well, it certainly seems that UEFA front loaded the big names into Tuesday’s playoffs:Â Rizzoli, Eriksson, Mazic, Brych and Velasco. Wednesday’s referees aren’t nearly as illustrious, with one notable exception: Bjorn Kuipers of Netherlands. Kuipers (above) is, in my opinion, the most naturally gifted and talented referee out there, despite my undisputed love for Nicola Rizzoli. Had Netherlands not made it
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The big match this week is undoubtedly on Monday, between last year’s first and third place teams, Manchester City and Liverpool. Michael Oliver gets the nod in that match. Oliver (above) is clearly working his way up the ranks. Mark Clattenburg is still England’s undisputed number one, and he’s at Crystal Palace v. West Ham. Martin Atkinson, another top ref, will take Sunderland v. Manchester
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The biggest game of the week is undoubtedly Liverpool v. Chelsea. Martin Atkinson (above) is up in the rotation for that one. Hopefully, foaming madman assistant coach Rui Faria will be suspended by then, so Atkinson doesn’t have to hire a bodyguard. Chris Foy, who took a Jonjo Shelvey deflection in the face last weekend, will be fourth official at Fulham
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Match Week 34 in Premier League gets extended a tad this week, due to FA Cup and some other make up games. Arsenal are coming off their lucky win over Wigan Athletic in FA Cup to face West Ham, who’ve  turned out not to be nearly as bad as they were threatening to be at the beginning of the season. The
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It should be a nice, uneventful week for Premier League referees, though at this stage in the season – and with the title race still somewhat open – I guess “uneventful” is a relative term. Martin Atkinson (above) probably has the toughest job on paper. Arsenal visits Everton on Sunday. With the teams at fourth and fifth respectively, Everton need to
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These appointments are about what you’d expect for Europa League matches: solid referees who aren’t quite at the Champions League/World Cup level. Svein Oddvar Moen (above – dreamy, no?) is actually on the World Cup list, as the alternate team for UEFA. Wolfgang Stark has been top dog in Germany, but is close to retirement and has been recently eclipsed
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 