Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır makes history

Cüneyt Çakır will be the first referee to take charge of consecutive semi-final matches in the UEFA Champions League season



After having officiated the Real Madrid-Manchester City match on April 24, UEFA has named Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır to officiate tonight's Champions League semi-final second leg game between Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Çakır will be the first referee to take charge of two consecutive matches in the semi-final stage in a season in the UEFA Champions League. During his 28 Turkish, Europa, Champions League and Euro Championship qualifying games, Çakır has brandished 127 yellow and 10 red cards.He is also the first Turkish referee to take charge in a UEFA Champions League final, after having officiated the 2015 final between Juventus and Barcelona.Çakır, an insurance agent who turns 40 in November, rose to the UEFA's Elite category of referees in June 2011.As for the game, Bayern Munich are desperate to avoid losing a third consecutive Champions League semi-final to Spanish opponents when they host Atletico Madrid today but coach Pep Guardiola has his work cut out to end his time in Germany on a high.Guardiola inherited the reigning European champions when he joined Bayern in 2013, but has endured successive semi-final failures since, falling to Real Madrid in 2014 and to his former club Barcelona last season. His hopes of reaching a first Champions League final since his Barcelona side beat Manchester United 3-1 in 2011 were dented after Saul Niguez's brilliant solo goal gave Atletico a 1-0 first-leg victory. With Guardiola leaving for Manchester City at the season's end, this is his last chance to conquer Europe with Bayern, who won the first of their five European Cups by defeating Atletico in the 1974 final."It's not over yet, we still have a chance," Guardiola told reporters. "If we lose it, you can kill me, but we still have a chance."Atletico coach Diego Simeone also believes the tie is open."Playing in Munich means they'll have their fans supporting them, but we have the opportunity to score an away goal.""We need to be on fire on Tuesday," said Thomas Mueller, who shone as Bayern were held 1-1 by Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and were consequently made to wait for their fourth consecutive Bundesliga title.Mueller's return was one of eight changes from the Atletico match made by Bayern, who were boosted by the return of Jerome Boateng, who had not featured since January.Arjen Robben, sidelined for two months with a hamstring injury, says that he is "fighting" to return this season but will miss out, while Guardiola confirmed he does not know whether Franck Ribery will recover from a back complaint.