Istvan Kovacs to referee Real Madrid vs Manchester City in Champions League

Kovacs, who will be assisted by Dutch official Dennis Higler as the VAR, will take charge of the return leg of the round of 16 tie next Wednesday. The full officiating team will also include Romanian assistants Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi, with Horatiu Fesnic as the fourth official and Tomasz Kwiatkowski from Poland as the VAR assistant.

A referee since 2010, Istvan Kovacs is no stranger to both Manchester City and Real Madrid. He has officiated three City matches, all of which ended in victories, and two Real Madrid matches, one of which ended in defeat for the Spanish giants at the Etihad Stadium, and another in which they triumphed earlier this season.

Kovacs was in charge of the first leg of the 2021/22 Champions League semi-final at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium on April 26, where Pep Guardiola's side won 4-3. Real Madrid's subsequent 3-1 victory at the Bernabeu, with two late goals from Rodrygo and a penalty from Benzema in extra time, saw them advance to the final, where they secured their 14th European title by defeating Liverpool 1-0 in Paris.

In the following season, Kovacs also refereed Real Madrid’s 5-2 win over Liverpool in the first leg of the round of 16 on February 21, 2023, following a dramatic comeback at Anfield. He also officiated Real Madrid's 5-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund on October 22 of this season, again overseeing a comeback from a 2-0 deficit.

Kovacs has also had several encounters with Manchester City, officiating their 1-5 victory over Club Brugge in the 2021/22 group stage and their 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the quarter-finals at the Etihad.

This season, Kovacs has officiated several key Champions League matches, including Lille’s 2-1 win over Fenerbahce, Inter’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal, Bayern Munich's 1-0 triumph over PSG, Red Star Belgrade's 2-3 loss to PSV, and Juventus' 0-2 defeat to Benfica.