Man United vs Athletic Bilbao referee confirmed as Ruben Amorim good omen emerges
UEFA have confirmed that Daniel Siebert will referee Manchester United's Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Club.
Assistant referees Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn will work alongside the man in the middle at Old Trafford, with Tobias Stieler fourth official. Christian Dingert is the appointed video assistant referee, with Soeren Storks the assistant video assistant referee to complete an all-German officiating team.
It will be the second United match Siebert has refereed during his decade as a FIFA-listed official. The first time was two years ago, again in the Europa League against La Liga opposition and at Old Trafford.
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Siebert officiated the round of 16 first leg against Real Betis, which United won 4-1. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring after a counterattack inside six minutes, only for the former Newcastle United and Southampton forwards Ayoze Perez and Juanmi to combine for an equaliser just after the half-hour mark.
Antony, though, put United back in front early in the second half, assisted by Bruno Fernandes. The latter then scored six minutes after heading in a Luke Shaw corner.
Wout Weghorst later added a fourth to give Erik ten Hag's team a commanding first-leg lead. As for Siebert, he showed only two yellow cards, one to Weghorst for dissent between the second and third United goals, then another to Fernandes following a foul ten minutes after his goal.
Athletic have never previously had him referee one of their matches. However, when officiating on Spanish sides overall, they have won on just six of 18 occasions across various UEFA competitions, drawing five and losing seven.
English sides, meanwhile, have a much better record - they have won ten of the 15 times Siebert has been the referee, drawing four and losing just once. That one defeat, though, was in November.
It, infamously, was when Ruben Amorim's Sporting CP won 4-1 against Manchester City in the Champions League, days after being appointed as United's new head coach. Siebert awarded three penalties in the second half of that match, two of which Viktor Gyokeres scored on either side of a miss from Erling Haaland.
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