The European Football Union announced the appointment of 45-year-old Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić to officiate the UEFA Champions League match between Chelsea and Barcelona, scheduled for Tuesday at Stamford Bridge.

This match marks Vinčić's third appearance in the Champions League this season. His previous two matches were against Spanish teams: he officiated Atlético Madrid's 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid's 1-0 win against Juventus.

This is the third time he is officiating Barcelona's matches in Europe, with the last being last season when the team defeated Bayern Munich 4-1 at Camp Nou. The worst memory for Barcelona fans dates back to the group stage of the 2022/2023 season, when the team lost 1-0 to Inter Milan, and the referee did not award a clear penalty for a handball by Dumfries in the 92nd minute—a decision that was also not overturned by the video assistant referee led by Dutch referee Pol van Boekel.

This will be the fourth time Vinesic officiates a Chelsea match, with the previous three games all ending in victories for the English team. The most recent was in last summer’s Club World Cup, where Chelsea defeated Benfica 4-1 after extra time. Vinesic also refereed the quarter-final match in the 2020/2021 season, in which Chelsea won 2-0 against Porto.

German referee Christian Dingert will be in charge of the video assistant referee (VAR) technology during the match.