Born in Płock in 1981, Simon Marciniak, designated for Switzerland-Italy, made his Euro2024 debut discreetly in Belgium-Romania, where he was however helped by the VAR. The Polish referee boasts great consideration in UEFA despite a curriculum with some glaring errors, as Spalletti himself well remembers. In 2003, his Napoli faced Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals. What infuriated the Neapolitan fans was the decision to do not award a penalty for contact in the area between Leao and Lozano in the return match at Maradona. Marciniak began refereeing in 2002 and managed to reach the highest levels in 2009, becoming a FIFA referee in 2011. The most important match refereed by Marciniak is undoubtedly the final of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup between France and Argentina. In the 2022/23 Champions League he was entrusted with the final between the English Manchester City and Inter, played in Istanbul and ending with the first and historic victory of the English club coached by the Spaniard Pep Guardiola. In the Champions League this year there were 6 matches directed by Marciniak, including the match between Borussia Dortmund and Milan, Lazio’s narrow victory against the Dutch Feyenoord at the Olympic stadium in Rome and the draw between Paris at the Parco dei Principi Saint German and Newcastle United.
In the round of 16 he was the designated referee for the second leg of the match between Atletico Madrid and Internazionale Milano, where Diego Simeone’s men only went through after a penalty shootout. Finally, he directed the second leg of the semi-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu, which ended with victory and the team coached by Carlo Ancelotti’s access to the Wembley final. However, he weighs heavily on the mistake made during the final minutes of this match, when Marciniak interrupted the action a few seconds before the Dutch former Juventus player Matthijs de Ligt scored the equalizing goal, thus not allowing VAR to interveneLet’s see how he fared yesterday in Berlin.
Marciniak’s history with Italy and Switzerland
There are only two precedents against Italy, both without Italian victories. The most recent is an England-Italy in the Nations League which ended 0-0, while the other is a Belgium-Italy 3-1 in 2015 in a friendly. Only one precedent instead with Switzerlanda 2-0 victory over Ireland.
The referee cautioned three players
Assisted by assistants Listkiewicz and Kupsik with Argentine Tello IV man and Kwiatkowski at the VARthe referee booked three players, all from Spalletti’s national team: Barella, El Shaarawy, Mancini.
Italy-Switzerland, the slow motion cases
These are the dubious episodes. In the 9th minute Cristante risks yellow for a harsh intervention by Aebischer. The first yellow card arrives in the 35th minute for Barella who fouls Rieder from behind. Marciniak controls the match without problems and in the 45th minute he also warns El Shaarawy, who made a foul on Schar on the edge of the area. Third yellow for Italy in the 57th minute for a late intervention by Mancini on the usual Rieder. In the second half the referee practically never has to intervene except before the final whistle Scamacca claims a penalty for a hand in the area for Marciniak there is nothing and even the VAR flies over. Switzerland-Italy ends 2-0.
