Nicola Rizzoli is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 football referee who has refereed in the Italian Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 since 2002 and has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2007. He refereed his first UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 qualifying match in August 2007, and took charge of his first Champions League group stage match, a 2–0 Sporting CP victory over Basel

FC Basel

Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. They are one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 14 times, the third most for any Swiss club. They were most successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning the...

, on 1 October 2008. When not refereeing, Rizzoli works as an architect.

Rizzoli was in June 2009 promoted to the Elite group of UEFA referees, meaning he is qualified for refereeing the top matches in the UEFA system on a regular basis, mainly Champions League matches. On 7 April 2010, Rizzoli took charge of the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 and Bayern Munich

FC Bayern Munich

FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

. With the score at 3–1 to Manchester United (4–3 on aggregate), Rizzoli sent off their right-back, Rafael

Rafael Pereira da Silva (footballer born 1990)

Rafael Pereira da Silva , commonly known as Rafael or Rafael da Silva, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Manchester United. He normally plays as a defender in a right back position, but can also play on the right side of midfield...

, for a second bookable offence. Bayern then scored again and won the tie on away goals

Away goals rule

The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. By the away goals rule, the team that has scored more goals "away from home" will win if scores are otherwise equal...

.

External links

• Profile at WorldReferee.com