This Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain take on Liverpool at Anfield in the return leg of the Champions League Round of 16 2024-2025 (0-1 first leg) (kick-off 9pm, UTC+1). The referee for the match has been chosen: Istvan Kovacs (40). He has a wealth of experience in the Champions League, with 28 matches to his name.
The man with the whistle will be assisted by Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi. The 4th referee will be Horatiu Fesnic. Video assistance will be provided by Bastian Dankert and Tomasz Kwiatkowski.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Kovacs at the whistle, we can expect yellow cards to come out very quickly during the match. Indeed, while the French average per game is 3.53 (standard deviation 0.39), Tuesday’s referee has given an average of 4.54 yellows per game in his entire Champions League career (Transfermarkt figures). This is very high, and the players will have to be careful.
Direct red cards –
The man on the whistle on Tuesday was far less severe when it came to direct red cards. In fact, Kovacs has served 0.11 red cards per match in his career, compared with the French average of 0.17 (standard deviation 0.07). Warnings come very quickly, exclusions much less so.
Second yellow cards –
Istvan Kovacs is not in the habit of sending off a player after his first yellow card in a match, as he issued a second caution to the same player an average of 0.07 times per match. This is lower than the French average of 0.09 (standard deviation 0.03). With a lot of yellows in the first instance, this confirms that he has a much harder time with the red card.
Penaltys –
Finally, when it comes to penalties, the man with the whistle on Tuesday is higher than the French average, with 0.46 penalties whistled per match, whereas in Ligue 1 the average is 0.34 (standard deviation 0.08).
History –
Kovacs has refereed PSG 4 times: against Galatasaray in 2019 (5-0), Newcastle in 2023 (4-1 defeat), Barcelona in 2024 (1-4 victory) and Bayern Munich in 2024 (1-0 defeat).
He has only been on the whistle for one Liverpool game, a 2-5 defeat by Real Madrid at Anfield in 2023.
