England get German referees for Ukraine tie

Just days after breaking German hearts at Wembley, it seems England will take on Germany once more at Euro 2020 — only this time it will be the refereeing team potentially in their way.

Gareth Southgate’s side produced a stunning display to defeat Germany 2-0 at Wembley thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane.

But eagle-eyed fans were quick to spot that of the eight-man refereeing team for the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 quarter-final against Ukraine, seven of them are German.

Experienced official Felix Brych will be the matchday referee in Rome and he will be assisted by Stefan Lupp and Mark Borsch.

Marco Fritz is the installed Video Assistant Referee and his three Assistant VARs are Christian Dingert, Christian Gittelmann and Bastian Dankert. Only one member of the officiating crew for Saturday night’s match does not hail from Germany. Fourth official Carlos del Cerro Grande is Spanish.

The news of the refereeing appointments soon raised plenty of suspicion among England fans on social media.

“A German ref, that’s a bit suspect is it not,” one user wrote.

“They’re going to bring it home, give them a German ref,” another added.

“Yeah I’m not sure how I feel about having German referee Felix Brych take hold of England vs Ukraine,” one fan said.

“Nice one Uefa, might be wise for Southgate to rest some of those yellow carded players . . .”

Memes soon became popular with one such image showing a scene from the Simpsons of Ralph on the bus laughing that he is ‘in danger’.

In one mock-up England flags are placed on Ralph to portray England’s fate lies in the hands of the German refereeing team. Doubts should be eased given Brych is one of Europe’s most respected officials and has taken charge of huge games previously.

At this tournament, Brych refereed Portugal’s last-16 defeat to Belgium and he’s already refereed Ukraine, officiating their 3-2 loss to Holland.

Brych’s CV includes taking charge of Champions League finals and he is widely considered Germany’s greatest referee in this moment.

He is also a lawyer outside of football. — Daily Mail

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