- Colin Cranmer
Slavko Vincic appointed as referee for Manchester City vs RB Leipzig
Manchester City will have to take a 1-1 draw back to the Etihad Stadium this Tuesday night against RB Leipzig, as they look to earn a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, with Slovenian official Slavko Vincic given refereeing duties for this last 16 second leg clash.
Slavko Vincic
Although a regular fixture in his native Slovenian top-flight, Slavko Vincic gets about - he has refereed just about everywhere you can think of so far this season, including: Germany, England, Italy, Scotland, Portugal, Greece, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the list just goes on! And these appointments are not just UEFA competitions, but in domestic cups and domestic leagues.
The Maribor born official has refereed two Manchester City games over the past seven years and if City are looking to go through on Tuesday night then this record needs to change: because he has yet to oversee a City victory. Two draws in two dead rubber group stage games against Celtic in 2016 and Shakhtar in 2019, with Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho issued yellow cards in each.
Twenty games refereed so far this season for the 43 year old, and as far as card stats go, this is quite incredible - he has given seventy seven yellow cards in his twenty games so far this season, but just ONE red card, which came in England as he dismissed Marseille's Chancel Mbemba for a reckless and out of control challenge against Tottenham in the Champions League Group Stage.
This can be a good omen or a bad omen, depending on which way you like to look at things - but, the last time Vincic was in Manchester, he was the referee at Old Trafford for Manchester United's Champions League last 16 second leg last season where they also took a 1-1 away result back to Manchester (spooky, right?). United of course lost that game 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, went out of the competition, and haven't played a Champions League game since, so make of that what you will.
Full Appointments
Referee: Slavko Vincic
Assistants: Tomaz Klancnik & Andraz Kovacic
Fourth Official: Rade Obrenovic
VAR: Alejandro Hernandez
Assistant VAR: Nejc Kajtazovic
Written by: @colgeocra
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