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Real Madrid-Manchester City could be in trouble because of the referee
István Kovács is not a brave choice for the return leg of the most prestigious CL match.
There will be four Champions League round of 16 matches on Wednesday, and while PSG and Dortmund can be taken for granted, anything can happen in Real-City (3-2) and PSV-Juve (1-2). We’ll now take a look at the card markets at Rabona, which could take on a whole new spice following an extreme first leg.
In Manchester, the focus was on football, not hardball. Clément Turpin didn’t touch his pocket once in a match in which only 15 fouls were committed, which was a bit unexpected even for him. The rematch, however, will be led by a much tougher sportsman, István Kovács from Karoli.
The referee from Transylvania was in the news last April, especially in connection with a certain Barcelona-PSG CL quarter-final. In Catalonia, he sent off Ronald Araujo in the 29th minute, after which the Frenchmen turned the game around and Barca were eliminated from the series. Kovács also awarded a penalty to Paris at 1-2, which Mbappé converted. Although UEFA upheld Kovács’ convictions after the match, he only led in two subsequent matches at the European Championships, which could be seen as a penalty.
True, they didn’t exactly go without a hitch either, as the 6-card Slovenian-serb followed a total frenzy in the Czech Republic-Turkey meeting. Here Kovács dealt out every card in football history, 10 to the Czechs and 11 to the Turks.
Kovács, who also holds a Hungarian passport, has been a busy referee this season in the UEFA Champions League, another sign of UEFA’s confidence in him. In addition to qualifying matches, he has also officiated five group matches, with a total of 19 cards, which is considered average.
Although Kovács’ name has made the headlines in countless BL matches, as well as Romanian championships and other international matches, he can still be considered a top referee. But his style is a far cry from the likes of Turpin.
In light of this, it is perhaps not paperwork that the only red card in the Real-City match will be odds of 4 times. Kovács has already had two sending offs this season, and if the medicine goes off at the end on either side, our friend from Romania will hardly be afraid to go for his back pocket.
