Donatas Rumsas will oversee the first leg of the UEFA Conference League quarter-final between Crystal Palace and Fiorentina on Thursday.
The Eagles have experienced some frustrating officiating in their first taste of European football, with referees from across the continent often awarding soft fouls and not allowing the game to flow.
Oliver Glasner will even be without Jorgen Strand Larsen for the clash at Selhurst Park on Thursday, after the annoying Aliyar Aghayev harshly booked the Dane in Larnaca for simply jumping to win a header in what was an infuriating, stop-start affair in Cyprus.
So, what type of refereeing performance can Crystal Palace fans expect from Rumsas? Let’s take a look.
Crystal Palace could encounter another whistle-happy official in Donatas Rumsas
The 38-year-old has been a professional referee since 2005, and an official FIFA referee since 2016 according to Transfermarkt.
In his 340 games, Rumsas has brandished a whopping 1,392 yellow cards, so the clash between Crystal Palace – who are upsetting the Holmesdale Fanatics – and Fiorentina on Thursday may well be another bitty affair with plenty of stoppages.
The Lithuanian has also given out 86 red cards – 40 of which have been straight reds – while awarding 104 penalties in his career as well.
Nonetheless, Rumsas seems to be a respected official, having been entrusted to oversee Bayern Munich vs Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League earlier this season, one of 11 matches refereed by the man from Palanga throughout his career.
Donatas Rumsas jokes with Jonathan Tah
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
He can also boast 12 games in the UEFA Europa League and four in the UEFA Conference League so far.
At this stage of the competition, you would like to think UEFA are assigning some of their best to oversee crucial knockout games, but only time will tell whether Rumsas follows in the footsteps of other referees who have wound up Crystal Palace fans in Europe this season.