At the Paris-Munich summit, the focus is also on the referee. Maurizio Mariani is criticized in Italy – for performance reasons.
Football referee Maurizio Mariani (43) recently only officiated in the second division after controversial decisions in Italy. In the Champions League, however, he will be leading the top game of the 4th matchday in Paris this Tuesday (November 4th, 2025): league leaders Paris St. Germain against second-placed FC Bayern Munich (from 9 p.m. in the live ticker and in the audio stream on sportschau.de).
Controversial penalty whistle
Mariani’s downfall was a penalty whistle in the Serie A top game SSC Napoli against Inter Milan (3-1) on Saturday, October 25th. When Naples captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo went down in the Milan penalty area after a good half hour, Mariani initially allowed the player to continue running. But after a tip from his assistant Daniele Bindoni, he decided on a penalty.
The VAR did not intervene because Milan’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan had actually hit Di Lorenzo in the leg. However, contact only came about because of Di Lorenzo’s lunge into Mkhitaryan’s path. In the second half, Mariani also overlooked a handball by Naples’ Alessandro Buongiorno and only awarded a penalty after VAR objected.
Referee representative Rocchi: “Get angry”
Serie A referee commissioner Gianluca Rocchi commented on the scene in La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I get angry when I make mistakes that defy logic“. Rocchi particularly criticized assistant Bindoni for his intervention. But he also took referee Mariani and the VAR to task, who in Rocchi’s opinion should have intervened.
He also indicated that those involved would be suspended. “It often happened that those who had to take a break for a round showed a great performance when they returned.” Mariani was only used in Serie B on Saturday, refereeing the game Virtus Entella against FC Empoli (1-0).
Eberl and Kompany react in a relaxed manner
The big Champions League duel in Paris is now the contrast to the second Italian league. However, the appointment is not a big issue for those responsible at FC Bayern. Sports director Max Eberl told the Bild newspaper that he didn’t even know the referee. “I don’t want to get involved in determining the referee nomination for a matchday in the Champions League. The fact is, we all have to learn somehow and gain experience.”
Sportschau, Das Erste, November 3rd, 2025 9:47 p.m
Coach Vincent Kompany saw it similarly, saying at the press conference: “I got relegated with Burnley, you learn from your mistakes.”
Mariani’s third appearance of the season in the Champions League
This is Mariani’s third appearance in the current Champions League season. In qualifying he led the Kairat Almaty game against Celtic Glasgow (3:2 a.e.) and in the group stage Liverpool FC’s 3:2 win against Atlético Madrid.
In the summer, Mariani was in action at the U20 World Cup. In Serie A he has only led two games since the start of the season – including the momentous top game in Naples.