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Arsenal face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League later this week with UEFA confirming a surprise referee decision for the last-16 clash
UEFA have announced the match officials for Arsenal's Champions League last-16 first leg against Bayer Leverkusen. The Gunners head to Germany on Wednesday evening with it confirmed that Turkish official Halil Umut Meler will referee the European clash.
This comes as quite a surprise, given that he has not officiated a single Champions League game this season. In fact, the 39-year-old has only taken charge of two games in the competition, which were Manchester City’s 0-0 draw with Sporting CP in 2022, and Benfica’s 5-1 win over Club Brugge the following year.
An all-Turkish officiating team have been chosen for the match with Ibrahim Caglar Uyarcan and Abdullah Ozkara as Meler’s assistants while Cihan Aydin is the fourth official. Rob Dieperink of the Netherlands will lead VAR, assisted by Portuguese official Tiago Martins.
Though Meler has not refereed many Champions League games, he appears to be highly regarded in his home country having refereed the Turkish Super Cup final between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce earlier this year.
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UEFA also seemingly consider him to be capable of handling big occasions as he was fourth official for last season's Conference League final between Chelsea and Real Betis. He has also taken charge of a few Europa League games this season, including Aston Villa's trip to Basel back in December.
It is worth pointing out that Meler was at the centre of an awful incident in Turkiye back in 2023 when he was punched and then kicked while on the ground by MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca following a 1-1 draw against Caykur Rizespor. Koca was later sentenced to more than three-and-a-half years in prison for assault.
Meler was back refereeing games in Turkiye just one month after the assault and ended that campaign as the chosen official for the conference league semi-final second leg between Fiorentina and Club Brugge.
Mikel Arteta has encountered Meler while Arsenal head coach before with the former overseeing their Europa League victory over Molde behind-closed-doors back in 2020.
The first leg against Leverkusen is the third of four competitions the Gunners will compete in this month. Premier League games against Brighton and Chelsea have already taken place with a visit from Bournemouth to come.
The Gunners beat League One outfit Mansfield Town in the FA Cup fifth round this past weekend with their quarter-final tie to follow next month. Before then, Arteta's side could win a trophy as they face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at the end of this month.
Having key players available for those upcoming games will be vital with Arteta issuing some concerning injury updates on Saturday.
On Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard, who were both forced off against Mansfield, Arteta said: "Both of them, they had little niggles. They were not comfortable to continue. And I knew that this could be a possibility, especially in the conditions that we're playing today. So we had to take them off."
Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes were rested for the trip to One Call Stadium, though the Gunners boss later revealed all three are dealing with problems.
He said: "They've been carrying issues. And the amount of games that we are playing, it's obviously super demanding. And it was the only time to try to make sure that we can clean those issues that they're having to start the next sequence of two weeks before the break in the best possible way. And we had to make those decisions."
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