Who is Iván Barton, the referee for Monterrey - Inter Miami today?

Monterrey host Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami today, as the MLS club attempt to turn the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final tie around.

Iván Barton will referee today’s CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final clash between Monterrey and Inter Miami, as Lionel Messi and Co bid to overturn a first-leg deficit in the decider in Mexico.

Barton, who was among the referees chosen for the 2022 World Cup, will be making his 15th appearance in CONCACAF’s elite club competition. The 33-year-old’s previous appointments in the Champions Cup - and its predecessor, the CONCACAF Champions League - include two finals.

In 2022, the Salvadoran ran the rule over the first leg of Seattle’s 5-2 aggregate triumph over Pumas. A year later, he oversaw the return match in León’s 3-1 two-legged win against Los Angeles FC.

In continental club soccer, Barton also became the first referee to show Messi a yellow card as a Miami player, cautioning the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner in a 2023 Leagues Cup match against Orlando City in August.

Indeed, the referee was later criticised for only booking Messi once in an eventful Florida derby. Speaking post-match, Orlando head coach Óscar Pareja said: “There were a couple of fouls by Leo that deserved a second yellow card. I don’t care if it’s him - he should be measured by the same yardstick. Things should be fair, and what happened out on the pitch wasn’t.”

Messi, who has missed a number of Miami games through injury this season, is set to be fit to start today’s last-eight second leg Monterrey, with the Herons 2-1 down from the opener a week ago. The return in Monterrey is shaping up as an encounter with an edge, after tempers flared between the teams at the end of their meeting in Florida.

Barton is no stranger to