UEFA have confirmed the refereeing appointments for Celtic’s crucial Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
Serdar Gözübüyük is the main official, with the 36-year-old Dutchman returning to Glasgow for the third time in a year for his first Celtic assignment, after refereeing Rangers’ Europa League win at Ibrox over Red Star Belgrade last season.
He’ll also be no stranger to a few of Ange Postecoglou’s players, Gözübüyük was also the fourth official for Scotland’s World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine in June, and the main official for Steve Clarke’s side’s 2-1 win over a COVID-stricken Czech Republic team in Prague in 2020.
The full refereeing team is displayed on the match listing on UEFA’s website, with assistant referees Joost van Zuilen and Johan Balder joining fourth official Jeroen Manschot.
The VAR team for the match are made up of Dennis Higler and Pol van Boekel, who will hope to have quieter evening than those at Tynecastle for Celtic’s first domestic taste of VAR yesterday.
Gözübüyük has mostly refereed Eredivisie and Europa League games, but took charge of Man City’s wild 6-3 win over Celtic’s Group F rivals RB Leipzig in last season’s Champions League, dismissing former City full-back Angelino on the night.
He also oversaw Zenit’s 3-3 draw with Chelsea prior to Russian club’s expulsion from European competition following the Ukraine invasion, and Villarreal’s 2-0 win over Young Boys in the same UCL group stage, before taking charge of eventual Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt’s 2-1 semi-final win over West Ham in London.
Tuesday will be his first Champions League assignment of the year, with only Dynamo Kyiv’s 1-0 home defeat in the Europa League to Rennes breaking up his Eredivisie matches so far this campaign.
He has issued an average of four yellow cards in nine games so far this season, and Celtic would do well to avoid inflating that number up unnecessarily if they’re to secure the three points they need to keep their European campaign alive into the new year.
In other news: Celtic legend Dalglish hails “top-quality” star who has excelled in Callum McGregor’s absence
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
