The farce Aston Villa will remember as referee appointed for Fenerbahce clash
Aston Villa have learned who will officiate their upcoming meeting with Fenerbahce.
The Villans play their first home Champions League outing in around 18 months on Wednesday night.
They last faced Paris Saint-Germain in Europe's elite competition as they were knocked out at the quarter-final stage in April 2025.
A Turkish giant now lie in wait as Fener are set to travel to B6 on Wednesday.
Things certainly won't be straightforward, especially after a difficult start to the season in claret and blue.
Villa will also be fearing for the worst as Ivan Kruzliak has been named as referee.
How Ivan Kruzliak caused chaos for Aston Villa previously
Having Champions League football back at Villa Park is massive.
Hearing the iconic anthem just makes everyone in B6 realise how far their side has come.
Kruzliak has been appointed by UEFA as the referee for the Champions League meeting with Fenerbahce as he manages the Villans for the second time, with the first coming in the Conference League.
It was just three years ago that Villa returned to continental action in the third tier of European competition.
Arguably the most iconic game of that season came away to Lille.
The French outfit sealed a 2-1 win in normal time before Emi Martinez became centre of attention in the penalty shootout.
He made a save to win the quarter-final, but not before he had been shown his second yellow of the evening.
No one inside Decathlon Arena could quite believe what had happened, but the Argentine wasn't actually sent off despite having two bookings to his name.
It was a farce and didn't go down well with Unai Emery.
That is the only memory Villa have of Kruzliak, and now he's set to take control in B6.
What sort of referee performance we can expect in Aston Villa vs Fenerbahce
It is always difficult to guess just how an official will take control of a fixture.
That can certainly be said about the Czech referee given the chaos of his only prior outing with the Villans.
Kruzliak has already had a busy season having taken charge of various UEFA fixtures at club and international level.
His last five games have ended with a total of 18 yellow cards and one penalty given.
His work in the Czech league across the past two years has come with an average of 5.4 yellow cards and 28.9 fouls, both said to be above average according to FotMob.
To sum that up, he has given out 22 yellow cards and two red cards in his opening four 1. liga games this season.
It looks as if Villa and Fenerbahce could be in for a busy evening.