Meet the referee for the Champions League final – Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz

Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz has been handed the duty of refereeing the prestigious Champions League final later this month.

But the Spanish official actually has a history with Pep Guardiola, having taken charge of Manchester City's Champions League quarter-final second-leg defeat to Liverpool in 2018.

The Sky Blues take on Chelsea in this year’s final, with City finally in the strongest position yet to break their Champions League duck.

The huge clash was set to take place in Istanbul, though that is looking highly unlikely due to travel restrictions to Turkey put in place by the UK government.

UEFA are set to move the all-important clash to Porto's Estadio do Dragao in Portugal.

But there are no uncertainties around the officiating team for the 29th May, with referee Mateu Lahoz being assisted by fellow countrymen Pau Cebrian Devis and Roberto Diaz Perez.

Another Spaniard, Carlos del Cerro Grande, will be the fourth official, and rounding off the fully Spanish team, besides one Polish VAR assistant, is Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez, who will take charge of video refereeing duties for the night.

Guardiola will be hoping that he does not come to blows with Mateu Lahoz again though, having openly criticised his decision to rule out Leroy Sane's strike just before half-time, which would have put City 2-0 up on the night, and just one goal away from turning things around.

However, Guardiola was sent to the stands by the referee, and Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino booked Liverpool’s place in the semi-finals, where they beat Roma before losing to Real Madrid in the final.

A clearly furious Guardiola did not hold back in his criticism of Mateu Lahoz after the match, who clearly hadn’t forgotten the night in Monaco where Sergio Aguero should have been awarded a penalty before Monaco were awarded a controversial spot-kick themselves.

He told BT Sport after the defeat to Liverpool three years ago: "I said it [Sane's effort] was a goal. I didn't insult him, I was polite, I was correct.

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    • "But Mateu Lahoz is a special guy, he likes to be different, he likes to be special.

    "I know what happened in Monaco last season, at 1-1, with an incredible penalty from Sergio Aguero.

    “He's special. When everybody sees things, he likes to decide the opposite. I didn't say any wrong word."

    Mateu Lahoz also awarded two penalties to Napoli during City's 2-1 group stage victory over the Serie A outfit at the Etihad back in October 2017.

    This season, the 44-year-old has dished out 134 yellow cards in 29 matches, and taken charge of five Champions League matches in total.

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