UEFA has confirmed the referees for matchday 4 of the league phase of the Champions League 2025/26. The match between Club Brugge and Fútbol Club Barcelona will be refereed by the Englishman Anthony Taylor, accompanied by the also British Stuart Attwell from VAR. 

For Taylor, this will be his third playoff match and fourth of the competition, as he was also the main referee in a qualifying round match. An international referee since 2013 and with 15 years of experience in the Premier League, the 47-year-old is one of two Englishmen with Elite category status at UEFA. The other is Michael Oliver.

Before Brugge-Barça, Anthony Taylor refereed the PSV-U. St. Gilloise (1-3, MD1) and the Marseille-Ajax (4-0, MD2). In the first match, he awarded a penalty to the visitors, while in the second he handed out 5 yellow cards (3 for Ajax). On matchday 3, he was not in charge of any match.

This is how Barça has fared in the Champions League with Anthony Taylor as referee

For Barça, Wednesday's match will be the sixth Champions League game with the English international as the main referee. The balance, for now, favors the Blaugrana with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss.

Taylor's most recent precedent refereeing Barça was in the first leg of the 23/24 quarter-finals. The Azulgrana team defeated Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes (2-3), a result that would ultimately be insufficient for the Catalans after the defeat in the return leg at Montjuïc (1-4).

Andreas Christensen, Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López and Sergi Roberto were cautioned that day, while the home side only received two yellow cards. Previously, Taylor also officiated Barça's victory in Porto (0-1) in the group stage of that same season.

In 22/23, the Englishman was the main actor in Barça's defeat at Camp Nou against Bayern (0-3), a match that Xavi Hernández's team reached mathematically eliminated in the group stage. In 2021, Anthony Taylor whistled the draw in the round of 16 against PSG (1-1 in Paris), while in 2017 he was also the referee for the goalless draw against Olympiacos in the group stage.

Barça's record in matches officiated by Anthony Taylor:

  1. Matches: 5
  2. Wins: 2
  3. Draws: 2
  4. Losses: 1
  5. Goals For: 5
  6. Goals Against: 6

Barça must win in Bruges to secure a spot in the TOP-8 of the league

The team led by Hansi Flick arrives at matchday 4 of the Champions League occupying 9th place in the standings, with 6 points and a goal difference of +5 thanks to the thrashing against Olympiacos (6-1). In that sense, a new victory in Bruges can secure Barça in the direct qualification zone for the round of 16.

Only the teams that finish in the TOP-8 avoid the playoffs in February. After the match against the Belgians, the Catalan team visits Chelsea in J5. Eintracht Frankfurt (home), Slavia Prague (away) and Copenhagen (home) are the other Barça rivals in the group stage.