UEFA on Tuesday announced the referee appointments for upcoming Europa League league phase matches, assigning officials from Romania and Norway to key fixtures involving Portuguese clubs FC Porto and Sporting Braga.
Romanian official Radu Petrescu will take charge of the match between Nottingham Forest and FC Porto. Norwegian referee Espen Eskas is set to officiate Sporting Braga’s home fixture against Red Star Belgrade.
Both Portuguese teams, FC Porto and Sporting Braga, currently sit with six points each in their respective group standings, having secured maximum points from their opening two games. Their opponents, Nottingham Forest and Red Star Belgrade, each have only one point.
Petrescu, 42, an international referee since 2012, will be officiating an FC Porto match for the first time. His team for the Forest-Porto game includes assistants Radu Ghinguleac and Ionut Neacsu, fourth official Andrei Chivulete, and VAR Catalin Popa.
The Nottingham Forest-FC Porto encounter is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. local time (20:00) at the City Ground in Nottingham, England. Nottingham Forest will also debut new coach Sean Dyche in the match.
Sporting Braga, mirroring Porto’s strong start, will host Red Star Belgrade, a team they defeated in the previous round at Estádio do Dragão.
Eskas, 37, an international referee since 2017, will be assisted by Jan Erik Engan and Isaak Elias Bashevkin for the Braga-Red Star match. Mohammad Usman Aslam will serve as the fourth official, with Austrian Jarred Gillett overseeing VAR.
The Sporting Braga-Red Star Belgrade match kicks off earlier on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. local time (17:45) at Braga’s home stadium in Portugal.