The 38-year-old Romanian Istvan Kovacs, a physical education teacher, will be the referee for Milan - Napoli, the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals to be played the day after tomorrow (9 PM GMT+2) at the San Siro stadium.
Kovacs has officiated three previous matches involving Italian clubs in the top competition, writes La Gazzetta dello Sport on its website.
The first was on October 2, 2019, in the group stage and involved Napoli: a 0-0 draw away to Genk. The second was on March 17, 2021, in the round of 16: Bayern-Lazio 2-1 (4-1 in the first leg at the Olimpico in February).
The last one was on September 28, 2021, again in the group stage: Shakhtar Donetsk-Inter 0-0. In the ongoing competition, he also refereed the first leg of the round of 16 on February 21 between Liverpool and Real Madrid (2-5). He also officiated for Napoli in the Europa League last year against Barcelona (1-1) and for Milan in the same competition's preliminaries against Skhendija (0-1 away). In total, his record with Italian teams in Europe is four wins, four draws, and one loss.
