A number of Liverpool fans believe that referee Danny Makkelie will have a key role to play in tonight’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid, in response to a tweet from James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) asking: “How do you combat the dark arts of Atletico?”
As written by the journalist for The Athletic, the La Liga side indulged in “time-wasting, play-acting and haranguing of officials” in the first leg in Spain, which ended in a 1-0 win for Diego Simeone’s team, with Pearce also bemoaning the “erratic display of Polish referee Szymon Marciniak” that night.
How do you combat the dark arts of Atletico? #LFC https://t.co/lGDFIBwQQU
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) March 10, 2020
To say that some Liverpool fans were unimpressed with the official in the first leg would be an understatement – one Kopite created an online thread of perceived refereeign errors from Marciniak (as per Daily Mail), while another edited the Pole’s Wikipedia page to mockingly state that he is “the first clinically blind referee to officiate in a UEFA competition” (as per thickaccent.com).
Makkelie has taken charge of three previous Liverpool games, with wins for the Reds over Red Bull Salzburg three months ago and away to Porto last season (as per TransferMarkt). His previous trip to Anfield saw him dismiss Joe Gomez for two bookable offences in a 2-2 draw against Sevilla in 2017.
These Reds fans on Twitter hope that the Dutch official will take a firmer stance against Atletico than Marciniak did in the first leg:
Liverpool fans, how crucial will Makkelie be to your team’s hopes of progression tonight? Are you hopeful that he won’t entertain Atletico’s apparent ‘dark arts’? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
