Overview
- UEFA has appointed Mariani to Tuesday’s Champions League match between Paris Saint‑Germain and Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes.
- Days earlier, Italy’s referees association suspended him after he awarded a contentious penalty to Napoli when he reversed his on‑field decision eight seconds after play continued on his assistant’s advice.
- VAR did not overturn the call because reports described the contact with Giovanni Di Lorenzo as minimal after an initial challenge by Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
- Mariani and assistant Daniele Bindoni were removed from Serie A assignments and handled the Serie B game Virtus Entella vs Empoli at the weekend.
- Italian media report chief Gianluca Rocchi was furious about the incident, and Mariani’s light schedule this season includes the U20 World Cup and Liverpool’s 3–2 win over Atlético in September.