Who is the referee for Kairat Almaty v Celtic? 'Controversial' official confirmed for UCL tie plus VAR details

Celtic will hope to confirm their place in this season’s Champions League as they make the long journey to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty in the second leg of the competition’s final qualification round on Tuesday night.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have enjoyed a positive start to their domestic campaign with three successive league wins, but they have it all to do in the Champions League after drawing last week’s first leg 0-0. To emerge victorious, they must become the first Scottish side in history to win in Kazakhstan.

A 3-0 weekend win over Livingston in the Scottish Premiership will have boosted the Hoops’ mood, with a Benjamin Nygren brace and a strike from Johnny Kenny allowing them to shake off the disappointment of their midweek draw against Kairat.

The Hoops boss will enter the game with some injury issues, with Alistair Johnston (hamstring) joining long-term injury victim Jota (ACL) on the treatment table. Adam Idah is also a doubt for the game after sitting out the weekend win over Livingston with a knee injury.

As for the hosts, they too have injury concerns and are expected to be without Alexandr Zarutskiy, Luís Mata, and Giorgi Zaria, while Dastan Satpayev is suspended.

Ahead of the game, we look at who UEFA has confirmed as the match officials for Tuesday’s mammoth clash at the Ortalyq stadıon.

Celtic will look to confirm their place in this year’s Champions League proper with a win in Kazakhstan. | Getty Images

Who is the referee for Kairat Almaty v Celtic?

The man in the middle for the game will be Maurizio Mariani of Italy, who has officiated in the Champions League, Europa League, and several UEFA competitions. He has taken charge of 340 matches in his career. He has awarded a total of 1,281 yellow cards (3.77 average per game) and 43 red cards (0.13 average per game). He was also the fourth official for Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League final in May.

While vastly experienced, Mariani has been at the centre of some controversial decisions in recent years. His most recent one came last November, when he chose to award a controversial penalty to Inter Milan for a foul on Denzel Dumfries by Napoli’s Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa in a huge Serie A title clash. The official came in for strong criticism from Antonio Conte, and was later demoted to Serie B by the Italian FA as a disciplinary measure for this call.

Originally, Mariani justified the decision, claiming he had a clear view of the incident and that VAR did not intervene as it was not a clear and obvious error. Following his demotion, though, he acknowledged the contract was light and did not typically deserve a penalty. His use of VAR has been critiqued by the Italian media, with many saying his use of the technology is inconsistent,

The Italian has never taken charge of a Celtic game in his career.

Kairat Almaty v Celtic VAR and match officials

Mariani will be assisted by an all Italian teams of officials, which include Daniele Bindoni and Alberto Tegoni as assistant referees, with Matteo Marchetti as the fourth official. On VAR duties it will be Marco Di Bello, and he will be assisted by Valerio Marini.

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