A Russian referee well-known to former Celtic winger Aiden McGeady will take charge of the Parkhead side's European swansong against Barcelona tomorrow night.
Sergei Karasev was the man in the middle for Scotland's ill-fated World Cup qualifier against Macedonia in September of last year, when he was let down by a call from one of his assistants as Nikolce Noveski gave the visitors an offside opener in the 1-1 draw.
However, the 34-year-old proved more controversial in a Moscow derby earlier this year when his display so enraged Spartak Moscow manager Valeri Karpin he had to be restrained by security staff as he confronted the whistler.
McGeady had opened the scoring for Spartak as they earned a two-goal lead back in April, but after arch-rivals CSKA had pulled a goal back, Karasev - who had earlier awarded CSKA a penalty that was missed - granted them another controversial spot-kick in stoppage time, from which Alan Dzagoev tied the match at 2-2.
Spartak had Brazilian Rafael Carioca red-carded for dissent after the equaliser and Karpin was hauled before the Russian FA's disciplinary committee as a result of the incident and fined around £1,900 for his misconduct.
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