UEFA announce UCL final referee in nightmare appointment for Pep Guardiola

Antonio Mateu Lahoz, the Spanish referee who once sent off Pep Guardiola, will be in charge of Manchester City's Champions League final clash with Chelsea.

Mateu Lahoz, 44, gave Guardiola his marching orders after being confronted by the City boss for mistakenly disallowing a goal against Liverpool at the quarter-final stage in 2018.

The Catalan confronted the Valencia-born whistleblower at half-time after he ruled out a Leroy Sane strike after the ball had been played to the winger by Liverpool's James Milner.

City were winning 1-0 at the time as they attempted to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit.

They eventually lost the tie 2-1, with Guardiola sat in the stand and assistant Mikel Arteta giving instructions on the touchline.

The City manager said: "I didn't insult him, I was polite, I was correct.

"But Mateu Lahoz is a special guy, he likes to be different, he likes to be special."

City have also had other controversies with Mateu Lahoz.

In 2017, he failed to give a penalty for a foul by Monaco keeper Danijel Subasic on Sergio Aguero.

Subasic should have also been sent off, but it was City's Argentine striker who was shown a yellow card for diving.

And although City won the tie 5-3 after Radamel Falcao had a controversial penalty saved by Willy Caballero, they went out on away goals after losing the second leg.

In October 2017, Mateu Lahoz awarded two penalties to Napoli during City's 2-1 group stage victory over the Italians at the Etihad.

Mateu Lahoz has twice been put in charge of Chelsea games.

In 2014, the Blues won 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon and the following year they lost 2-1 at Porto.