The man in charge of the final on Saturday night is Frenchman Clement Turpin, who will be refereeing the biggest game in European football for the first time.
The 40-year-old has plenty of top level experience, though, becoming a referee in 2010 and taking charge of games in the Champions League, and last season’s final when Villarreal edged Manchester United on penalties.
Turpin has been in charge of Real Madrid as recently as their away leg at Chelsea in this season’s Champions League when the Spaniard’s won 3-1 thanks to a Karim Benzema hat-trick.
He was last in charge of the Reds in last year’s competition when they beat RB Leipzig 2-0 at Anfield.
In his last four European matches, Turpin has not dished out a red card, but in the game before that run he showed three!
The Frenchman was in charge as Atletico Madrid won 3-1 at Porto in December 2021, with Yannick Carrasco sent off for the Spaniards before Wendell was dismissed for the home side and then Porto’s substitute goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin was shown red without even getting on the pitch.
On how his refereeing journey began, Turpin told UEFA: ‘No referees were appointed for children’s matches, so instructors and parents refereed the games.
‘I was asked if I’d like to take a refereeing course – I thought “why not?” and it started from there. I continued to play football until the age of 19 – one day of the weekend I was a player, the next a referee. The refereeing side was going well, so from then on, I decided to concentrate on being a referee.’
He added: ‘I never said to myself that I would referee a European final one day.
‘From the start, I preferred to set myself small targets and challenges along the way. I’ve never had a particular role model as a referee, but I’ve watched other referees and taken little bits of what they do and incorporated them into my own refereeing.’
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