Newcastle United are about to come face-to-face with referee Szymon Marciniak once again.
Newcastle United will host Benfica on Tuesday night in their third Champions League game of the season.
Eddie Howe’s side recorded their first win in the competition this season with a 4-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise last time out and will be expected to claim another three points on Tuesday.
Still, Newcastle are not in convincing form ahead of the game and the idea that Jose Mourinho could claim a statement victory on his return to England isn’t exactly out of the question.
In a dramatic development, UEFA have confirmed that Marciniak will oversee the game.
Szymon Marciniak checks the VAR screen during Paris Saint-Germain vs Newcastle United in the Champions League.
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
Szymon Marciniak is the confirmed referee for Newcastle United vs Benfica
The Polish official oversaw one of the most controversial decisions in Newcastle’s recent history.
Marciniak awarded PSG a penalty against Newcastle United for a Tino Livramento handball and it felt incredibly harsh.
He did not initially call for a spot-kick but did so after VAR advised him to take a second look. Even after multiple viewings, he reached a controversial decision, given Livramento could have done little about Ousmane Dembele’s cross being fired at him from close range.
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The ball hit the Newcastle defender on the chest before his arm and one wonders what he could have done differently in that position. Kylian Mbappe duly scored the spot-kick to deny Newcastle a famous win after Alexander Isak’s first-half goal.
As of Sunday evening, UEFA’s official website currently lists Marciniak as the confirmed referee.
What Eddie Howe said about Szymon Marciniak after Newcastle United vs PSG
Naturally, the Newcastle United manager was fuming about the decision.
Speaking after the game, Howe suggested Marciniak was under pressure from the home crowd and wasn’t strong enough to deny PSG.
“He’s under pressure for every decision here with the crowd, which you might not be aware of at home. The pressure put on the referee by the crowd was extreme,” he said.
Before adding: “I did think he was having a good game until that point. Because I think he’d be strong, he’d been strong in the correct decision until this moment.”