Slowly but surely, the big day is approaching. Respectively winners of FC Barcelona and Arsenal, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain validated their ticket for the Champions League final. An appointment set for May 31 on the Munich side. There was an unknown on the identity of the referee in charge of the meeting. It was unveiled on Monday. It will be Romanian Istvan Kovacs.
The man with a whistle is not a stranger for the Luis Enrique team since it was he who led the eighth finals return against Liverpool. Rather encouraging for the most superstitious. The official is in any case a regular at the big meetings because he for example arbitrated the final of the Europa Conference 2022 league won by AS Rome against Feyenoord Rotterdam (1-0).
Last year, it was he who was at the whistle in the final of the 2024 Europa League won by the Atalanta Bergame at the expense of Bayer Leverkusen (3-0). He will therefore cross a new level by arbitrating the most prestigious of European competitions with regard to clubs. It will be his ninth C1 match this season.
Other objectives before the C1 final
While waiting to find Mr. Kovacs, Inter Milan and PSG still have one or two objectives to be achieved. Paris will try, for example, to win the French Cup of which he will play the final against the Reims stadium on May 24, without forgetting a last Ligue 1 match to play this weekend with the reception of AJ Auxerre at Parc des Princes (May 17, 9 p.m.).
As for the Nerazzurri, they remain in full struggle for the title in Serie A. After returning to a point of the Neapolitan leader on Sunday, they still have two games to pass them. Not simple with the reception of Lazio on May 18 (3 p.m.) then a trip to Como on May 25 (3 p.m.).
