UEFA announced on Sunday that they have assigned the task of officiating the return leg between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to the skilled Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakir.
Çakir, who has been an international referee since 2006, was in charge of a few of this season’s group stage matches, including Bayern’s 3:1 home victory over Paris Saint-Germain F.C and Real Madrid’s 3:1 breakdown of Tottenham Hotspur. The 41-year-old also officiated Real’s 3-0 victory in the first leg of their quarterfinal match against Juventus.
As Bayern look to turn the score around in Madrid and continue their treble run, they are not entirely happy that Çakir will officiate the match due to dreadful experiences in the past. Die Roten were eliminated from the Champions League in 2016 after losing to Atletico Madrid—on away goals—in a very controversial match that still haunts the Germans. After the team’s knockout in 2016, the club chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge harshly criticized Çakir for wrong calls in the game and said that he felt cheated.
Here is Rummenigge’s reaction to the controversial match against Atletico from two years back:
Our team played great. They deserved to win and deserved to go to Milan. Atletico’s goal was offside; the foul for the penalty was outside of the box. The referee had two matches in the last seven days. I don’t know whether those UEFA guys can have too many matches, too. The UEFA delegate told me it’s a shame what he did.
Çakir’s appointment is a hard pill for the Bavarians to swallow. However, Jupp Heynckes and the players are ready to strike down anything that may come their way.