Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs, card specialist
His two decisions weighed heavily on the result, like the one he made during OM's defeat against Panathinaikos (0-1, August 9, 2023), in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. That day, it was Geoffrey Kondogbia who paid the price for his severity by also being expelled without the slightest indulgence (65th). “We don’t like to talk about refereeing, but he didn’t make our job easy”simply commented Marquinhos, this Tuesday after the meeting, without further controversy.
