Aston Villa begin their UEFA Champions League campaign in Switzerland on Tuesday evening against BSC Young Boys. One of the key things to look out for will be the man in the middle, the referee. Villa fans will know from the club's experience in the UEFA Europa Conference League last season that the standard of refereeing in Europe is fairly dubious. The individual in charge of tonight's fixture is Bulgarian Georgi Kabakov.
Who is Georgi Kabakov?
Kabakov is a 38-year-old Bulgarian football referee and has been since 2001. From 2001, when he was aged just 15, he had officiated in Bulgaria and after gaining years of experience was promoted to Bulgarian top division in 2007. He was later appointed as a FIFA referee in 2013.
Kabakov is now an experienced international referee having officiated in the UEFA Europa League since 2016 and the UEFA Champions League since 2018. His Champions League debut came at the Mesetella Stadium where he was in charge of Manchester United's visit to Valencia in the group stage. He has also refereed England during their Euro 2024 qualifying stage as well as Wales recently in their UEFA Nations League match with Montenegro.
Kabakov's refereeing style
Fans of England, Wales, Liverpool, and Manchester United (to name a few) will know that Kabakov is someone who likes to dish out the cards on the pitch. He often likes to stamp authority on a game by branding cards early on and gives little leeway for poor challenges. Villa are likely to have a game this evening with very little flow, particularly if several fouls take place because he is not a referee that likes to play advantage to the attacking team.
So far this season, Kabakov has refereed seven games across different competitions. These competitions include the Bulgarian top flight, the UEFA Nations League and the UEFA Europa League. Across those seven fixtures, he has shown 32 yellow cards at an average of 4.6 per game and one red card. Following Liverpool's 3-2 defeat to Toulouse in last season's Europa League one Liverpool fan claimed:
""The Referee looked completely out of place right from the start. The disallowed goal in the last minute just about sums it up. One of the worst decisions I have seen. Just to make it even more confusing to everyone, during the check, he pointed towards the centre circle signalling goal, and he walked towards the middle, then he was called for a review.""
How will Villa deal with the potential refereeing issue?
The best way for Villa to solve the refereeing problem is to keep hold of the possession of the ball for large spells in the match. In their match against Everton on Saturday, Aston Villa had 73% of the possession during the game. When going 2-0 down it is easy to panic and try to force the play, becoming desperate in attempts to score and get back into the game.
However, Villa did not do that and instead, they remained patient with the ball and stuck with their philosophy of building play from the defense. Against BSC Young Boys, who like Everton are bottom of their domestic league table, I would expect Villa to maintain the same level of dominance in terms of possession. This will, in turn, help the flow of the game in Villa's favour and reduce the chances of the referee stopping the flow of the game and showing yellow cards as freely as he often does.
Kabakov is also unlikely to put up with any antics. Therefore, Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will have to be on his best behaviour. Described as 'the world's number one' by the Villa faithful, Martinez is well known not just for his excellent goalkeeping ability but also for his antics in time-wasting and aggravating opposition players and fans. Should Villa take the lead in this game and Martinez is seen to be time-wasting, Kabakov will not hesitate to show him the yellow card and this is the kind of thing that can change the atmosphere against his team.
UTV