Athletic Bilbao vs Rangers Referee and VAR: Match officials confirmed for Europa League quarter-final clash

UEFA have revealed the officiating team for this week’s huge Europa League quarter-final second leg clash between Athletic Bilbao and Rangers at Estadio de San Mamés.

The second leg clash between the pair takes place on Thursday 17 April, with kick off scheduled for 8pm UK time, as Rangers aim to make the final four of the competition for the second time in the last three seasons.

Last week’s first leg tie saw Barry Ferguson’s side go down to 10-men early into the game at Ibrox, with Robin Propper given a straight red card after taking down Inaki Williams just outside of the area. The Light Blues held firm though and, thanks to Liam Kelly’s late penalty save from Alex Berenguer, battled to a deserved 0-0 draw.

Rangers will have been further boosted by a character building display at Aberdeen on Sunday, where they once again fought back to take a share of the spoils after going down to 10-men in the first-half after Ross McCausland’s sending off at Pittodrie. Trailing 2-0 at the break, strikes from Hamza Igamane and Ianis Hagi secured an unlikely 2-2 draw for Ferguson’s men.

As for visitors Athletic Bilbao, they responded to last week’s stalemate at Ibrox with an impressive weekend home win over Rayo Vallecano. Trailing 1-0 at the break, Ernesto Valverde’s side started back in the second-half to win 3-1 thanks to a brace from Oihan Sancet and a sole Nico Williams strike.

With a semi-final place at stake, UEFA have now confirmed the match officials for Thursday’s crucial second leg:

Monaco defender Christian Mawissa is sent off by Irfan Peljto earlier this season. | AFP via Getty Images

Who is the referee for Athletic Bilbao vs Rangers?

UEFA have confirmed that Bosnian referee Irfan Peljto will take charge of the game on Thursday night.

He is yet to referee Rangers this season, but has taken charge of three Europa League games, seven Champions League games and three Nations League A games. During his three Europa League games, he has handed out 10 yellow cards, and one red card. He awards an average of 3.33 yellow cards per game in the competition, and awards an average of 25.67 fouls per game. He has quite the reputation for handing out red cards this season, however, having awarded five red cards in his 13 UEFA officiated games.

He sent off Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga in last week’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, while he has also issued a red card to Aurélien Tchouaméni during France’s recent Nations League game against Belgium.

He was the man in the middle for Celtic’s 0-0 draw with Atalanta in the League Phase of the Champions League on October 23, where he booked just one player during the 90 minutes, though he sent off two Celtic players in last season’s Champions League defeat to Feyenoord, issuing red cards to both Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm in Rotterdam.

He’s notable for being the first Bosnian to referee a Champions League match.

Athletic Bilbao vs Rangers match officials and VAR

Kovacs will be joined by fellow Bosnian officials Senad Ibrišimbegović and Davor Beljo, who will act as assistant referees. The fourth official is Miloš Gigović. On VAR duties, we have Dutch official Pol van Boekel, who will be assisted on VAR by Clay Ruperti.