Maurizio Mariani will not have to repeat the mistakes of the first leg. Appointed by UEFA on Sunday morning, the Italian referee will officiate the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday (9:00 pm).
Based in Rome, the 44-year-old official has already refereed 17 matches in the Champions League, including 6 this season. He was in charge during the Reds’ victory against Atletico Madrid in the group stage (3-2), as well as the defeat of Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich (1-2), where he sent off Luis Diaz for a violent tackle on Achraf Hakimi, who was injured.
Last year, he also refereed the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals between Luis Enrique’s team and Aston Villa (3-1). He was also in the spotlight during Monaco-Benfica in the same year, showing a red card to Monaco’s Moatasem Al-Musrati for protesting against an opponent.
He was demoted to Serie B at the start of the season
Despite his appointment for such a high-profile match, Maurizio Mariani is experiencing a tough season. The experienced official was sanctioned by the Italian Football Federation at the start of the season and temporarily demoted to Serie B. This was due to an error he made on October 25 in the Serie A match between Napoli and Inter Milan (3-1).
Inter players were furious after a penalty was awarded to Napoli for a slight foul by Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the penalty area. This led to criticism from Gianluca Rocchi, in charge of Italian referees, who was very critical of Mariani.
Deprived of competition the following weekend, the 44-year-old also faced heavy criticism from Italian media. “Mariani is becoming more and more controversial,” even commented Corriere dello Sport. However, he was recently called up for the 2026 World Cup (June 11 – July 19).
The match referee will be assisted by his compatriots Daniele Bindoni and Alberto Tegoni, while Matteo Marchetti will be the fourth official. For VAR, Italian Marco Di Bello has been appointed to oversee the VAR at the side of Aleandro Di Paolo.
During the first leg of the quarter-finals last week, despite being fair-play at the final whistle, Paris Saint-Germain could have felt aggrieved after two very contentious actions, which could have led to penalties for the capital club and allowed them to increase their lead before the return leg.
