Match Officials: Serdar Gözübüyük to referee Villarreal vs Manchester City | OneFootball

Serdar Gözübüyük has been appointed into the role of on-field match referee for Manchester City’s trip to face Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League this week.

Pep Guardiola’s side will be hoping to return to winning ways in European competition when they travel to Spain on Tuesday night, as they come into the clash off the back of a dramatic 2-2 draw away to AS Monaco on matchday two.

Having led the French outfit via a 1-2 scoreline at the half-time interval in the south of France courtesy of an Erling Haaland brace, a late foul from Nico Gonzalez inside his own penalty area gave Eric Dier the opportunity to convert from the spot – achieving such.

That result did however maintain an unbeaten run that has lasted since the end of August for Manchester City, propelling themselves towards the top of the Premier League table and maintaining their place as a contender for the major honours at this early stage.

This week’s opponents currently sit third in the La Liga table after a hugely positive start to their own domestic season over in Spain, with five wins, two draws, and two defeats to their name, inspired by the division’s third-leading scorer in Etta Eyong.

Ahead of the meeting between Villarreal and Manchester City, UEFA have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at Estadio de la Cerámica!

Match Referee

Appointed into the role of lead on-field match referee for the clash between Villarreal and Manchester City this week will be the Netherlands’ Serdar Gözübüyük, UEFA have confirmed.

So far in the ongoing 2025/26 campaign, the 39-year-old official has taken charge of 10 matches across competitions including the Dutch top-flight, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, and the UAE Pro League.

Across the course of those 10 matches, Gözübüyük has issued a total of 52 yellow cards, one second yellow card dismissal, two straight red cards, and awarding three penalties in the process.

As for Manchester City, they have been officiated by Serdar Gözübüyük on three previous occasions stretching back to the 2019/20 campaign, winning two of those meetings and drawing the other contest.

And it was that score draw that took place the last time Gözübüyük oversaw Pep Guardiola’s players, with a 1-1 draw on the road away to RB Leipzig en route to winning the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League title.

Assistant Referees

Accompanying referee Serdar Gözübüyük at Estadio de la Cerámica in Villarreal this week will be fellow Dutch match officials Erwin Zeinstra and Patrick Inia, appointed into the roles of assistant referees.

Video Assistant Referees

As for the pair of officials overseeing proceedings between Villarreal and City from the VAR Hub, UEFA have confirmed the Netherlands’ Rob Dieperink will be Video Assistant Referee accompanied by Belgium’s Bram Van Driessche as Assistant Video Assistant Refereee.

Fourth Official

Finally, UEFA have confirmed that the Netherlands’ Jeroen Manschot will be the fourth official overseeing the respective dugouts of Villarreal’s Marcelino and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola.