This Saturday, in the quarter-finals of the 2025 Club World Cup, Paris Saint-Germain take on Bayern Munich at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (kick-off 6pm CET, broadcast on DAZN). The referee for the match has been chosen: Anthony Taylor (43). He has a wealth of experience, including 38 matches in the Champions League. He’s one of the big names in soccer.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Taylor 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), Saturday’s referee has given an average of 4.55 yellows per game throughout his Champions League career (Transfermarkt figures). That’s a very high figure, so let’s hope it’s one that protects the players and doesn’t forget the dialogue.
Direct red cards –
The man on the whistle on Saturday was not very severe when it came to direct red cards. In fact, Taylor has given out 0.03 red cards per match in his career, whereas the French average per match is 0.17 (standard deviation 0.07). So there’s no question of punishing everyone.
Second yellow cards –
Anthony Taylor’s habit is to send off a player after his first yellow card in a match, as he issued a second warning to the same player an average of 0.11 times per match. This is higher than the French average of 0.09 (standard deviation 0.03). With many yellows and few reds to begin with, there’s a certain logic to it.
Penaltys –
Finally, when it comes to penalties, the man on the whistle on Sunday is lower than average, with 0.32 penalties whistled per game, compared with the Ligue 1 average of 0.34 (standard deviation of 0.08).
