Italian referee, Fabio Maresca has been suspended from officiating UEFA Champions League (UCL) games after allegedly threatening to kill a player.
Maresca also faces a potential one-month suspension from Italian Serie A refereeing duties.
According to Corriere della Sera, the incident happened in the face-off between Kuwait SC and Al-Arabi when Maresca was confronted by Khaled Al Murshed upon colliding with each other.
While the referee did not make much out of it, a board member of Al Arabi, Adnan Abdul, revealed that Maresca said he would ‘kill the player’.
Maresca, who was selected as the fourth official for the tie between PSV and Sporting CP, was then replaced by his compatriot, Daniele Doveri, a matchup that eventually ended 1-1 on Tuesday night.
However, another Italian referee, Marco Guida officiated the game, assisted by the duo of Ciro Carbone and Giorgio Peretti.