Madrid will welcome RB Leipzig to the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday with Romanian official Istvan Kovacs appointed for the Champions League matchday-three meeting.
The 42-year-old, an international referee since 2010 and a member of UEFA’s Elite group, will take charge of his first match in this season’s league phase. Poland’s Tomasz Kwiatkowski has been selected as the video assistant referee.
A familiar official for Real Madrid
Kovacs will oversee Real Madrid in Europe for the sixth time. Their record in his previous five continental fixtures is three wins and two defeats, with the most recent loss coming in last season’s group stage: a 1-0 defeat away to Liverpool at Anfield.
Madrid’s last three victories with Kovacs in the middle came in high-profile ties. They beat Manchester City 3-1 at the Bernabéu in the 2024-25 qualifying round, defeated Borussia Dortmund 5-2 at home in the group stage months earlier, and won 5-2 against Liverpool in the first leg of the 2022-23 round of 16.
His first Real Madrid assignment was also the first of the club’s two defeats under him, a 4-3 loss to Manchester City in England in the first leg of the 2021-22 Champions League semi-finals.
First European appointment involving Leipzig
The Bernabéu contest will be Kovacs’ first European match involving the German side. Leipzig arrive in the Spanish capital for a new meeting with Madrid under an official whose previous appointments have often coincided with eventful European nights for the hosts.
