Tottenham handed referee who was recently bailed out by VAR for 'mistaken identity' for Champions League clash

Tottenham now know who will be their referee for Tuesday night’s Champions League group phase clash with Bodo/Glimt. Spurs are well-versed in the Norwegian side after facing them over two legs in the latter stages of their successful Europa League run last season.

Thomas Frank’s men have enjoyed a solid start to the season so far, which they continued in the Champions League with a narrow win over Villarreal. Though, they have not won since, drawing with Brighton and then Wolves in the Premier League.

Frank will want to see better here, while Bodo/Glimt who are second in the Norwegian league, will be hoping to build on their opening Champions League game draw with Slavia Praha. A big result here at home could put them on a solid footing to secure surprise progression after they surprised many in the Europa League last season, reaching the semi-finals.

Ahead of the clash, UEFA have confirmed the referee, and we now know Ivan Kruzliak will be the man in the middle. Kruzliak has previous refereed two Tottenham fixtures, including a 2-1 win over PSG in the group stage of the 2018/19 Champions League. He was also in charge for Tottenham’s 5-1 win over Asteras Aktor in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage.

He has overseen two Bodo/Glimt fixtures to date, including a Champions League qualifying win over Red Star Belgrade this season and a 2022 Conference League quarter-final second leg win over AZ after extra time.

Kruzliak did not referee a game in the first round of Champions League group stage fixtures. Looking back at some coverage of his previous games, one that stands out is his performance during the Champions League quarter-final between Inter Milan and Feyenoord.

In that game, Gazzetta dello Sport said he got one penalty decision right, but he needed VAR to award another penalty and gave a yellow card to the wrong player, requiring VAR to get involved again due to a case of ‘mistaken identity’.

Frank on Spurs shortcomings

Tottenham could only pick up a point against winless Wolves on Sunday, and Frank spoke to the media after the game. He replied when asked if the draw was a reminder that it was still early days for his side: “Yeah, you can say that. I think first half was good, I was happy with that in many ways. I felt we were on top, controlled it, created two or three very good chances and got into a lot of dangerous situations where we didn’t create a chance where we should have created more.

“You know you are thinking, ‘it's very good, produce a lot of crosses and we are on track’, but football is not like, 'Wolves, please roll over'. It is the Premier League and it is extremely competitive. So, you’re going into the second half and thinking it could be good. I think the big change in the second half was probably their goal - that changed the momentum of the game.

“They also changed to a 5-3-2. That made it more difficult. Not that we didn’t know they could do it, but of course how do we get the message across to the players? The goal meant we probably lost a bit of structure and coolness to put more passes to get up into the right positions, cross it from the right area or produce from the right area instead of a cross with your weaker foot or a difficult position and a shot from 30 yards even though they crowd scream to shoot.

“I like the effort and mentality and I think it is huge actually, and I meant that, to get a point on a night where it is not perfect, especially not in the second half. That is two times in a row we come back. I think that tells a lot about the players. Yes, we want more and we did not hit our highest performance level today, but when you are down at 90+ and get a point, that’s positive."

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