It is an all Italian affair for the officiating of Manchester United’s first Europa league game of the season against Spanish side Real Sociedad.
Manchester United and Erik ten Hag will be looking for the fifth consecutive win in all competitions as they welcome Real Sociedad to Old Trafford for the start of the Europa League campaign.
Real Sociedad head to Manchester with a recent mixed run of form but La Real will have someone who is very familiar with the city pulling the strings in midfield in the form of David Silva, who spent ten trophy filled years at Manchester City.
Here’s a look at the confirmed match officials for Thursday night’s game:
Match referee
Marco Di Bello will be the Man in charge of Thursday's fixture and the 41-year-old Italian is not afraid of showing his cards. Di Bello has brandished 47 cards in his last ten games with three of these being reds.
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In his last game, a 3-1 win for Atalanta over Torino in Serie A, Di Bello dished out four yellow cards but also awarded two penalties which proved pivotal to Atalanta winning as both were converted.
Penalties are not a stranger to Marco Di Bello’s games as six spot kicks have been given in his last ten appearances.
His willingness to chaperone the game with cards and how frequent penalties appear in his matches seem to point to it being likely that Marco Di Bello will definitely make an impact on Thursday night.
Assistant referees
The pair tasked with running up and down the touchline and assisting Di Bello are Fabiano Preti and Giorgio Peretti.
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The two are vastly experienced with Preti having assisted 356 games in his career and Peretti has been a referee since 1997.
Fourth official
The man that will be the closest to Erik ten Hag and Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil, will be Giovanni Ayroldi.
Video assistant referees
Massimiliano Irrati and his assistant Marco Guida are the two in charge of VAR for the evening.
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The fixture will take place on Thursday evening at Old Trafford as Erik ten Hag looks to get the club's European campaign under way.
It is likely that Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro will be amongst the XI, while David de Gea and Lisandro Martinez are two who drop to the bench in what is predicted to be a heavily rotated side.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Manchester United, Europa League, Real Sociedad