Tom Boyd will get his wish tomorrow night when a neutral referee takes charge of the Celtic v Valencia Europa League tie.
Ovidiu Ha?egan was born in Arad, Romania in 1980 and appears to have no connections to Valencia or the all-powerful Lanarkshire Referee’s Association.
The 39-year-old knows his way around Celtic Park after taking charge of last season’s 5-0 demolition of Astana which took Brendan Rodgers’ side to the brink of the Champions League group stage.
Watch penalty decision at 2 minutes
Over in certain areas of Belfast however Hategan is less fondly remembered, especially in connection with Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off against Switzerland.
During the first half a penalty was awarded against Michael O’Neill’s side after he judged a shot to have struck Corry Evans on the arm when television coverage clearly showed that it his his shoulder.
“It was a sad and unpleasant moment for me, sad because I made that mistake, painful because with my team we had good performances,” he later told Romanian website Sport. “In our world, the referees are the same as the goalkeepers, a mistake is seen I’ve been over that moment.”
That mistake appears to have cost Hategem a place at the World Cup Finals but this season he took charge of four Champions League group stage matches including Barcelona v Inter Milan and Juventus v Manchester United.