English referee Michael Oliver will be the referee in charge of Inter’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Benfica tomorrow evening at the Estadio da Luz in Portugal.
This is confirmed by an official announcement of the officiating crews for all the Championes League matches in this round of fixtures, as reported by FCInterNews.
38-year-old referee Oliver has been in charge of matches at the Premier League level since 2010, whilst he has also been a FIFA-listed referee who has overseen international matches since 2012, including at the World Cup in Qatar.
Assisting Oliver in his duties will be Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett, whilst the role of fourth official will be filled by John Brooks.
In the VAR room, Dutch referee Pol van Boekel will oversee the match to ensure that any errors made by the on-pitch crew are corrected, whilst he will be assisted in his duties by another English official in the form of Stuart Atwell.
Inter will be hoping that the focus can be on the action on the pitch rather than any officiating controversies with a place in the semifinals of Europe’s top competition.
Oliver has history with Italian teams in the Champions League, with the Englishman having been in charge of a quarterfinal second leg between Juventus and Real Madrid in 2018.
In that match, the Bianconeri had hauled back a 0-3 deficit from the first leg of the competition to make the scoreline 3-3 on aggregate, and 3-0 on the night at the Bernabeau.
However, late on in the match referee Oliver pointed to the spot for what proved to be a decisive Juventus penalty after Bianconeri defender Medhi Benatia fouled Los Blancos winger Lucas Vazquez.
Then-Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon was incensed with the decision, and was eventually sent off for his protestations to Oliver, later ranting against the English referee in his post-match remarks including the infamous comment that the official had a “trash bin for a heart.”