Celtic’s clash with Roma on Thursday is a tasty tie on paper.
But after a rocky start to Wilfried Nancy’s tenure with a home defeat to Hearts, a clash with a European giant could be more daunting than it is exciting.
However, Roma have failed to score in their last two Serie A matches, stumbling after making a strong start to life under Gian Piero Gasperini. They aren’t unbeatable.
Celtic need points to guarantee their progression in the Europa League – they can’t afford to have one eye on Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final.
So for now, it’s all eyes on Roma – including the eyes of the referee who officiated the Champions League final in June.
Champions League final referee Istvan Kovacs assigned Celtic vs Roma clash
Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs was the man in the middle as PSG won their first ever Champions League trophy in style.
In one of the best European final performances ever, Luis Enrique’s side annihilated Inter Milan, winning 5-0 in Munich.
READ MORE: Chris Sutton slams Wilfried Nancy ‘hysteria’ in fierce social media defence of Celtic boss
An experienced referee at the elite level, Kovacs officiated the Europa League final in Dublin the season prior, which saw Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen.
He has officiated Celtic twice before – firstly back in 2016, in a 2-1 Champions League qualifying win against Astana.
Apologies for bringing it up, but the other was the 4-1 home defeat to Sparta Prague under Neil Lennon in the closed doors season.
Kovacs is the first referee to officiate all three modern UEFA finals, having worked at the inaugural Conference League final in 2022.
He also holds the European Championship record for the most cards in a match – during a Euro 2024 group stage match between the Czech Republic and Turkey, he issued sixteen yellow cards and two red cards.
A former PE teacher, he was fourth official at the last World Cup final in Qatar.
Roma: Celtic’s next Europa League opponents
Gasperini was the winning manager at the final in Dublin last year, but this summer, he departed Atalanta for Roma after nine years in Bergamo.
In a tight Serie A table, the Giallorossi sit in fourth place, four points behind joint-leaders AC Milan and Napoli.
In the Europa League, they sit two points ahead of Celtic, with three wins and two defeats. They managed an impressive win away at Nice on the first matchday before losing at home to Lille.
They were stunned by Viktoria Plzen after that, but maintained their perfect away record with a comfortable win at Ibrox.
Last time out, they succeeded where Celtic couldn’t and defeated Midtjylland, who had won four out of four before that.
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