Glen Nyberg of Sweden will referee Wednesday’s Champions League tie between Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic in Warsaw.
The 33-year-old was in charge of Celtic’s 3-1 qualifier away to Sarajevo in 2019, the match where Albanian President Ilir Meta bumped into some visiting fans, since then he has followed Celtic avidly.
Wednesday’s match will be Nyberg’s first Champions League group match. Last season he was involved in Europa League and Conference ties, earlier this year he took charge of the Dinamo Kiev against Fenerbahce Champions League qualifier.
For obvious reasons the match has been moved from Ukraine but Shakhtar can expect a large passionate support in Warsaw, especially after last week’s 4-1 win away to RB Leipzig.
That result opens up the group, suggesting that it could be a three way fight for second place behind Real Madrid.
Marian Shved was the unlikely Man of the Match in that away win with the former Celtic winger a deadline day signing for the Ukrainian champions.
“The Back-Pass Rule States That A Goalkeeper Is Forbidden To Handle The Ball When Passed To Them By A Team-Mate, according to Law 12, Section 2 of the Laws of the Game.” So two minutes into the second half against Real Madrid, the left-back passes the ball and the keeper picks it up. He was a team-mate! If he wasn’t passing it back to the keeper, then just who was he passing it to?! The trajectory of the ball is along the ground and straight towards the keeper and he takes a touch before he picks it up. And so, it is a direct pass-back to the goalkeeper. And he has no right to pick it up! Whether the defender intended to pass it to the keeper, only he knows! But, whether it was intentional or unintentional, the fact remains it WAS a pass-back!
So, the Referee sees it and momentarily considers whether to give it as a pass-back. He probably sees his Refereeing life, past and present before his eyes – and he doesn’t give the decision. He probably thinks if he gives it, it wouldn’t be good for his career. And so he bottles it. It is the wrong decision! And VAR were incapable of correcting it – for the same reason, we must assume! And CelticTV didn’t even show the incident in their match-highlights video. Four of the five pressing Celtic attackers in and around the incident claimed for a decision, with their arms in the air!
If the Ref can’t give fair decisions, then supporters suffer and the fairness of the game as well. If the game isn’t fair, then what is is?!