UEFA appoints Davide Massa as referee for Barcelona-Eintracht

Published New:8/12/2025 - 01:20h

Updated New:8/12/2025 - 01:20h

Italian Davide Massa will be the referee for the Champions League J6 match between Barça and Eintracht. Marco Di Bello will be in charge of VAR at Spotify Camp Nou

The UEFA Champions League returns this Tuesday to the Spotify Camp Nou 1,140 days after FC Barcelona's last home match in Europe's premier club competition. For matchday 6 of the 2025/26 league phase, Italian referee Davide Massa will be the main official for the encounter against Eintracht Frankfurt.

The 44-year-old referee, an international since 2014, will officiate his third match in the current Champions League edition. Massa was the main official in **Arsenal's thrashing of Atlético (4-0)** and also in **Borussia Dortmund's rout of Villarreal** by the identical scoreline.

In the duel between the 'Gunners' and the 'Colchoneros', Massa issued three yellow cards, two of them to Atleti. In the 'Yellow Submarine's' match, he sent off Juan Foyth in the 52nd minute with a straight red. He also cautioned a German player in a match that completely opened up after the Villarreal defender's expulsion.

Davide Massa will referee Barcelona in Europe for the first time

Despite his extensive experience in Europe, Davide Massa never refereed Barça in Champions League or Europa League matches. Eintracht, on the other hand, did play a couple of games with the Italian as the main referee, both ending in defeat for the Germans.

In the 2024/25 season, **Massa refereed Eintracht's elimination in the Europa League quarterfinals** against Tottenham (0-1). A penalty by Domini Sloanke in the 43rd minute sealed the 'Spurs' qualification with a 2-1 aggregate. The English team would eventually win the title after defeating Manchester United in the final (1-0).

Previously, the Frankfurt team also lost in the group stage of the 2019/20 Europa League **against Arsenal (0-3)** with the Italian refereeing. That season, the Germans were eliminated in the round of 16 by Basel.

Barça goes for their third win in the Champions League group stage

For matchday 6 of the Champions League, Barcelona and Eintracht arrive at contrasting moments of the season. The Blaugrana squad comes off the back of six consecutive victories in LaLiga that have allowed them to regain the lead and pull away at the top with a 4-point lead over Real Madrid.

The Catalans, however, are obliged to secure all three points on Tuesday to get closer to the TOP-8 of the league stage, which grants direct access to the round of 16. For now, Barça is in 18th place with 7 points, only 3 points behind eighth place, currently held by Sporting CP

Facing them will be an Eintracht Frankfurt that is coming off a resounding defeat on Saturday in the Bundesliga (6-0 against Leipzig) and has only managed 1 point out of the last 12 in the Champions League. Dino Toppmöller's team lost at home in the previous matchday against Atalanta (0-3) and has dropped to 28th place in the general standings, in an elimination zone.