While Barcelona will attempt to mount a Champions League comeback against Juventus on Wednesday, the referee in charge of the final when Real Madrid won La Decima, Bjorn Kuipers, will be holding the whistle.
The Dutchman hasn’t overseen a match involving Luis Enrique’s team since the 1-1 draw against Roma that opened last season’s edition of the competition. In the 2011/12 campaign, his performance in the Barcelona-Milan quarterfinal produced a few talking points.
Two of the Blaugrana’s three goals came from the penalty spot, one of them somewhat controversial. Indeed, his decisions greatly angered, among others, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was returning to the Camp Nou but wearing the Milan shirt.
He was also on hand when Robert Lewandowski, then at Borussia Dortmund, single-handedly dismantled Real Madrid 4-1. Kuipers owns a chain of supermarkets and has a fortune of about 9 million Euros.
He is also passionate about mountain biking and on Wednesday he will be followed by a magnifying glass at the Camp Nou.
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