Real Madrid will have to fight for one more comeback against all odds and stats, including those that have to do with Wednesday's referee.
Earlier today, UEFA revealed the names of the referees that will be in charge of both return legs in the UEFA Champions League, with Italian ref Daniele Orsato being given the duty to see justice being upheld in the clash between Los Blancos and the Cityzens.
Orsato is a seasoned ref with vast experience in UEFA CL matches. Nevertheless, the decision to give him the whistle for such a crucial game has not gone down well within Real Madrid's ranks, since the last two times in which they were eliminated from the competition took place with Orsato on the pitch.
The first one of those took place in the 2019-20 season, precisely against Manchester City. Back then, Daniele Orsato made justice prevail in the first leg between the Spanish and English sides, and he had a major role in the outcome of the match by awarding a penalty for the Premier League club and for sending Sergio Ramos off. Eventually, Real Madrid were unable to recover from that 2-1 loss and went on to lose the second match with the same score as in thre first leg.
The second one of those games took place last year in their UCL semi-final clash against Chelsea. Orsato was in charge of the second leg, where he did not have any key decisions that reflected in the game's end result.
To make matters worse for Los Blancos, their most recent game with Orsato on the pitch also ended in defeat. That game was none other than the first leg of their Round of 16 meeting against PSG, which concluded with a one-nil defeat against Les Parisiens.
