Felix Zwayer to referee Benfica-Barcelona

Germany's Felix Zwayer has been appointed by UEFA to referee Wednesday's Benfica-Barcelona Champions League round of 16 first leg.

Zwayer will be assisted on the sidelines by his compatriots Robert Kempter, the fourth official will be Florian Badstübner and the VAR will be handled by Bastian Dankert and Frenchman Willy Delajod.

The 43-year-old Berlin referee, who has been an international since 2012, has officiated this season's Europa League match FCSB-LASK Linz (1-0) and in the Champions League the matches Inter-Red Star (4-0), Milan-Brujas (3-1), Dinamo Zagreb-Celtic (0-0), Liverpool-Lille (2-1) and Atalanta-Brujas (1-3).

Last season, he refereed Benfica in the quarter-finals of the Europa League at Marseille, against whom they were eliminated on penalties after a 1-0 French victory.

Likewise, he was the referee, also the previous season, of the Napoli-Barcelona (1-1) match in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, a round that the Spanish team went through with a 3-1 win in the second leg.

He also coached Barcelona in October 2018 in the victory at Tottenham (2-4) and Benfica against Manchester United in October 2017 (0-1) and at Dynamo Kiev in August 2022 (2-2) and Juventus in September of the same year (1-2 win).