Thirty-five years old, referee with over 150 appearances in Ligue 1, Francois Letexier – chosen by UEFA for Spain-Georgia – He made a great debut at Euro 2024 in Croatia-Albania and repeated the feat in Denmark-Serbia. The French whistleblower is considered among the best European referees. In the 2023/24 Champions League he took charge of a total of 6 matches. Starting from the preliminary phase of the competition, where he covered the match between Antwerp and AEK Athens, he subsequently refereed three group stage matches, including Napoli’s defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu against 14-time European champions Real Madrid . In the round of 16 he directed the first leg match between Lazio and Bayern Munich at the Olympic stadium in Rome, won by the white and blue team. To conclude, he was assigned the first leg of the quarter-final between Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid and reigning champions Manchester City, which ended 3-3. The French whistleblower was also the match director of Roma-Brighton in the Europa League and the European Super Cup of this year played in August by Manchester City and Sevilla and won on penalties by the English as well as the return leg of the Europa League between Atalanta and Liverpool but how did it fare yesterday?
Letexier’s history with Spain and Georgia
A precedent with Spain, which lost on the occasion, and a cross also with Georgiaalso defeated.
The referee cautioned two players
Assisted by assistants Mugnier and Rahmouni with the Dutch Gozubuyuk IV man and Brisard al Varthe French referee cautioned two players, one for each team: Morata (S), Davitashvili (G).
Spain-Georgia, the slow motion cases
These are the dubious episodes. Georgia claimed a penalty in the 30th minute for a contact in the area between Mikautadze and Le Normand, the scorer of the initial own goal, but the referee let it go. The impression is that it is the attacker who searches for the opponent’s legs and then lets himself fall. In the 39th minute Rodri receives from Nico Williams and shoots on goal with his left foot. Mamardashvili does not arrive. Georgian protests, VAR check which however evaluates the positions of both players as regular and the goal is validated. At 44′ Morata is cautioned for a bad tackle on Kochorashvili. At 71′ Davitashvili is cautioned for a bad foul in midfield. At 73′ ball in for Yamal, exchange with Olmo, cross and own goal. But everything stopped for offside by Yamal. The five goals of the match are regular. Nothing else to report and Spain-Georgia ends 4-1.
