This Wednesday, as part of the 7th day of the league phase of the 2024-2025 Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain (25th) will face Manchester City (22e) au Princes Park (kick-off at 9 p.m., broadcast on Canal+). The referee for the match has been chosen, it will be Szymon Marciniak (43 years old). Who has significant experience in the Champions League, with 51 matches on the clock.
The man with the whistle will be assisted by Tomasz Listkiewicz and Adam Kupsik. As for the role of 4th referee, it will be occupied by Damian Kos. And video assistance will be provided by Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Tiago Martins.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Marciniak on the whistle, we can expect yellow cards to be handed out very quickly during the match. Indeed, while the average in Ligue 1 per match is 3,53 (standard deviation of 0.39), the referee on Wednesday gave 3,90 yellows per match on average throughout his career in the Champions League (figures Transfer market). It's very high, let's hope it's thanks without forgetting the dialogue.
Direct red cards –
The man with the whistle this Wednesday, on the other hand, is very light on the side of direct exclusions, since he has a very weak tendency when it comes to distributing direct red cards. Indeed, Marciniak is 0,02 exclusion per match in his career while the French average per match is 0,17 (standard deviation of 0.07). There is clearly no question of sanctioning at all costs.
Second yellow cards –
Szymon Marciniak has the habit of sending off a player after his first yellow card in a match, since he gave a second warning to the same player 0,10 times per match on average. Which is a little higher than the average in Ligue 1, which is at 0,09 (standard deviation of 0.03). With a lot of yellows and few direct reds, it's ultimately quite logical.
Penalties –
Finally, in terms of penalties, the man with the whistle on Wednesday is higher than average with 0,43 penalty whistled per match, while in Ligue 1 the average is 0,34 (standard deviation of 0.08).
-The recent painful history.
It was he who had already led the match in November against Atlético de Madrid, with a very frustrating defeat conceded in the final moments despite very large domination. Hopefully it will be another scenario. The good news is that this is still an elite referee. It’s up to Parisians to deserve their victory.
