Maurizio Mariani will not have to repeat the mistakes of the first leg. Designated by UEFA this 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 pm).
Based in Rome, the 44-year-old official has already officiated 17 matches in the Champions League, including 6 this season. He was in charge of the game where Liverpool beat Atlético Madrid in the group stage (3-2), as well as the one where Paris Saint-Germain lost to Bayern Munich (1-2). He had shown Luis Diaz a red card for a violent tackle on Achraf Hakimi, who was substituted due to injury.
Last year, he had already officiated the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final between Luis Enrique’s team and Aston Villa (won 3-1). He also stood out in the Monaco-Benfica match in the playoffs the same year by showing a red card to Moatasem Al-Musrati for protesting against an opponent.
He was demoted to Serie B at the start of the season
Despite being appointed for such a high-profile match, Maurizio Mariani is having a complicated season. The experienced official was sanctioned by the Italian Football Federation at the beginning of the season and temporarily demoted to Serie B. The cause was an error made on October 25 during the Serie A clash between Napoli and Inter Milan (3-1).
Inter Milan were furious after a penalty was awarded to Napoli following a slight foul by Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the penalty area. This led to strong criticism from Gianluca Rocchi, in charge of Italian referees, who was very critical of Mariani.
Deprived of officiating the following weekend’s matches, the 44-year-old also faced heavy criticism from the Italian media. “Mariani is increasingly controversial,” as commented by the Corriere dello Sport. Nevertheless, he was recently called up for the 2026 World Cup (June 11 – July 19).
The match referee will be assisted by his fellow countrymen Daniele Bindoni and Alberto Tegoni, with Matteo Marchetti as the fourth official. Italian Marco Di Bello will be in charge of VAR, assisted by Aleandro Di Paolo.
In the first leg of the quarter-final last week, despite being fair play at the final whistle, Paris Saint-Germain could have felt aggrieved after two disputed actions, which could have resulted in penalties for the capital club and allowed them to increase their lead before the return leg.
