Merk to make his mark

Markus Merk of Germany will take charge of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final between Juventus FC and AC Milan at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Second final
The 41-year-old Merk, who combines refereeing with running his dental practice in Kaiserslautern, will lead a team of German officials which includes assistant referees Heiner Müller and Christian Schräer in addition to Wolfgang Stark, the fourth official. It will be Merk's second UEFA club competition final after he refereed the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain FC.

Italian speaker
As well as his native tongue, Merk speaks French, English and - of most relevance for the Old Trafford showpiece - Italian. An international referee since 1992, Merk made his debut at a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier between Belgium and Cyprus before officiating at the Barcelona Olympics later that year.

Memorable match
Merk enjoyed an excellent UEFA EURO 2000™, taking charge of the Belgium v Sweden and Slovenia v Spain matches prior to handling the memorable semi-final between Italy and the Netherlands in Amsterdam, which the Azzurri won 3-1 on penalties. At last year's FIFA World Cup finals, he refereed the Japan v Russia and Denmark v England games.

Old Trafford appearance
Wednesday will mark Merk's 90th international match but only his second visit to Old Trafford. He was the referee on 10 April last year when Manchester United FC defeated RC Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 in the second group stage of the Champions League.

Familiar with Juve
Merk is more familiar with Juventus having been the man in the middle at four of their Champions League matches. Two of those games were against United in Turin - a 1-0 victory in September 1996 and this season's 3-0 defeat - while the other matches ended in respective 2-2 and 1-1 draws against Galatasaray SK (September 1998) and Olympiakos Piraeus FC (March 1999). Merk has never officiated at a match involving Milan.