Controversial Turkish referee to officiate Manchester City v Real Madrid Champions League clash

Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır will officiate the Manchester City v Real Madrid Champions League semi-final first-leg clash at Anfield on Thursday 13 April.

Çakır will be joined by Bahattin Duran, Tarık Ongun, Cem Satman, Hüseyin Göçek and Barış Şimşek for the first-leg clash. The experienced referee also recently officiated Liverpool’s clash with Dortmund in the Europa League quarter finals.

The experinced referee has a reputation for being harsh on English club players in European competition and famously sent of Chelsea star John Terry in the same competition.

Çakır is however, the most experienced Turkish referee at International and European level and has taken charge of over 70 UEFA matches including the Champions League final last season. Çakır is currently rated the third best referee in the world.

RANKING 2015

1) Nicola RIZZOLI (Italy) 80 points
2) Martin ATKINSON (England) 72 points
3) Cuneyt Çakır (Turkey] 71 points
4) Felix BRYCH (Germany) 59 points
5) Bjorn KUIPERS (Netherlands) 35 points
6) Marc CLATTENBURG (England) 24 points
7) Wilmar ROLDAN (Colombia) 21 points
8) Jonas ERIKSSON (Sweden) 14 points
9) Carlos VELASCO CARBALLO (Spain) 11 points
10) Ben WILLIAMS (Australia) 6 points

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