MILAN – Englishman Howard Melton Webb will officiate Lille v Inter on Tuesday 18 October 2011. He was born in Rotherham on 14 July 1971, making his debut in the Premier League on 18 October 2003. In 2005 he became an international referee and officiated his first UEFA Champions League match on 26 September 2006; since that he has gone on to referee more than 20 matches. In January 2011 he was nominated referee of the year by the IFFHS. He is a former police officer and loves tennis and running. He refereed Inter in the final in Madrid on 22 May 2010 and the World Cup final in South Africa between Spain and the Netherlands (13 yellow cards). In his illustrious career he has also officiated at the European Under-21 Championships in Portugal (2006), at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada (2007), at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, as well as the Confederations Cup in South Africa (2009) and the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria (2009).
On Tuesday evening in France, Webb (behind Wesley Sneijder in the photo) will be refereeing Inter for the fourth time. The first was in October 2008, at the Stadio Meazza against Anorthosis, then Inter v Cska Moscow (31 March 2010) and the final, Bayern Munich v Inter. Apart from the neutral pitch in Madrid, this will be his first time in charge of a Nerazzurri away match in the Champions League. He will be assisted by fellow-countrymen Michael Mullarkey and Jake Collin, with Martin Atkinson as fourth man and additional assistants Stuart Attwell and Michael Lesilie Dean.
