{"id":81638,"date":"2026-09-06T15:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81638\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:10:12","slug":"an-unforgettable-penalty-english-referee-for-real-madrid-and-inter-champions-league-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81638\/","title":{"rendered":"An unforgettable penalty: English referee for Real Madrid and Inter Champions League clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=152580eeda2194bc4&amp;q=https:\/\/www.kooora.com\/%25D9%2583%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A9-%25D9%2582%25D8%25AF%25D9%2585\/%25D8%25A3%25D8%25AE%25D8%25A8%25D8%25A7%25D8%25B1\/%25D8%25B1%25D9%258A%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584-%25D9%2585%25D8%25AF%25D8%25B1%25D9%258A%25D8%25AF-%25D9%258A%25D8%25AA%25D9%2584%25D9%2582%25D9%2589-%25D8%25B6%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A8%25D8%25A9-%25D9%2585%25D9%2588%25D8%25AC%25D8%25B9%25D8%25A9-%25D9%2582%25D8%25A8%25D9%2584-%25D9%2585%25D9%2588%25D9%2582%25D8%25B9%25D8%25A9-%25D8%25A7%25D9%2595%25D9%2586%25D8%25AA%25D8%25B1-%25D9%2585%25D9%258A%25D9%2584%25D8%25A7%25D9%2586\/bltd3930f9ce05b253a&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjtsLGu8NmWAxUxnycCHdqeNy8QFnoECAsQAg&amp;usg=AOvVaw3rdNv_9RFLmMNkOaXQVUUx&amp;fexp=121991393,121991394,121877338,121877336\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Real Madrid open their Champions League campaign against Inter Milan<\/a> on Tuesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu, with England&#8217;s Michael Oliver in the middle.\n<\/p>\n<p>Oliver ranks among the most prominent referees on the continent, and this marks the sixth time he has taken charge of a Merengues match in European competition. His record leans clearly in Real Madrid&#8217;s favour.\n<\/p>\n<p>Spanish newspaper &#8220;Marca&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/futbol\/real-madrid\/2026\/09\/06\/michael-oliver-viejo-conocido-debut-inter.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">report<\/a> that Real Madrid have lost just once in the five previous games Oliver has officiated.\n<\/p>\n<p>The English official handled Real Madrid&#8217;s clash with Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup (2-0), Braga against Real Madrid in the group stage of 2023-2024 (1-2), and Olympiacos against Real Madrid last season (3-4). He also took charge of the Merengues&#8217; 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of 2025-2026.\n<\/p>\n<p>One night, though, tied Oliver&#8217;s name permanently to Real Madrid&#8217;s modern history: the second leg of the 2017-2018 Champions League quarter-final against Juventus.\n<\/p>\n<p>With the match drifting towards extra time and qualification hanging by a thread after the Old Lady&#8217;s 3-0 lead, Oliver pointed to the spot in the 93rd minute. Benatia had fouled Lucas Vazquez. The decision ignited a storm.\n<\/p>\n<p>Cristiano Ronaldo tucked away the penalty and sent Real Madrid through to the semi-final.\n<\/p>\n<p>Juventus erupted. Gianluigi Buffon charged at the referee before seeing red, then aimed scathing criticism at him in the mixed zone after the final whistle.\n<\/p>\n<p>UEFA punished the goalkeeper for his conduct, and Oliver became the target of a harassment campaign that the association itself condemned. The fallout reached his family. It remains a controversial and unforgettable chapter in his career.<\/p>\n<p>You can discuss the topics and news in greater depth in the &#8220;Kooora&#8221; forums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid open their Champions League campaign against Inter Milan on Tuesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[187,2009,82,83],"class_list":["post-81638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-champions-league","tag-inter","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}