Serie A referee to take charge of Sunderland's Europa League tie with Dinamo Zagreb
UEFA have confirmed the team of officials that will take charge of Sunderland’s Europa League tie with Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday.
Referee Andrea Colombo will lead an all-Italian team of officials that will oversee Sunderland’s Europa League tie with Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.
The Black Cats will return to the Stadium of Light for a European fixture for the first time since they claimed a narrow win against Dutch Cup winners AZ Alkmaar on the opening matchday of this season’s competition. Despite their struggles at domestic level, Regis Le Bris’ side can put one foot in the knockout rounds with a win against Dinamo after they secured a further four points from away days at Portuguese club Torreense and Polish champions Lech Poznan.
With another big European night lying ahead, UEFA have now confirmed 36-year-old referee Colombo will be the man in the middle on Thursday night. The Como-born official has gradually made his way through the ranks in Italian football in recent seasons and his progress has been rewarded with a number of appointments in European football during the current season.
Colombo has already overseen two Europa League fixtures after overseeing Besiktas’ 4-1 home win against Marseille in September before he took charge of Rennes’ narrow victory against OFI Crete last month. That came after he was lead official for a 1-1 draw between Gornik Zabrze and Ferencvaros and Freiburg’s 4-1 win against Motherwell in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League and Europa Conference League respectively.
Colombo has also progressed into international football after he showed three yellow cards in a Nations League tie between Slovenia and Macedonia in September. In total this season, Colombo has shown 45 yellow cards and three red cards and awarded two penalties in 12 fixtures in all competitions.
UEFA have confirmed Giovanni Baccini and Khaled Bahri will be Colombo’s assistants at the Stadium of Light and Matteo Marchetti will conduct fourth official duties. Marco Di Bello has been named as VAR official and Daniele Chiffi will be his assistant. Greek official Stavros Tritsonis will be UEFA’s referee observer at the Stadium of Light and German Rainer Koch has been designated as the governing body’s delegate for the tie.
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