The Macedonian referee Aleksandar Stavrev will lead the Champions League group stage match between Barcelona and Viktoria Plzeň.

The Champions League title holder Barcelona hosts Czech champion Viktoria from Plzeň in the third matchday of the group stage.  UEFA awarded the game to Aleksandar Stavrev who will make his debut in the Champions League.  His assistants will be Marjan Kirovski and Ljubomir Krstevski with Dejan Jakimovski as the fourth official.  Additional assistant referees that will be situated behind the goal include Dimitar Meckarovski, who stands very controversial in Macedonia, and Goran Spirkoski.

This is the first time that Macedonian referees will participate in a Champions League group stage match.  Keep in mind that Macedonian referees have participated in Champions League qualification games as well as group stage matches in the Europa League, but never in the Champions League.

Stavrev is an international referee since 2006 and has taken part in numerous games, around 30 to be exact.  His last international game was Hannover – Standard Liège (0:0) in the Europa League group stages, played on 15 September, while his last game in the Macedonian First League was the Sileks – Turnovo (1:1) game in Round 9 that was played on 30 September.

The Group H game featuring Barcelona and Viktoria Plzeň will be played on Wednesday at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain with kick-off scheduled for 20.45 CET.