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A REFEREE voted the “worst” of the last World Cup will take charge of Liverpool’s crucial Europa League second leg at Old Trafford on Thursday.

And if Reds boss Jurgen Klopp thought first leg official Carlos Velasco Carballo was card-happy, Serbian referee Milorad Mazic shows even more!

Mazic took charge of Germany versus Portugal and Argentina versus Iran in Brazil 2014.

He awarded Germany a fiercely-contested penalty, then sent off Portugal’s Pepe in his first assignment - then after Argentina scraped past Iran, a failure to award Iran a penalty led the Iranian boss, Carlos Queiroz, to rage: “How can this guy sleep tonight, or for the rest of his life? With all respect, I would like to have the opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with him. Why did he do that to us?”

The Iranian Football Federation filed an official complaint to FIFA over Mažic’s refereeing afterwards.

In a poll by the website redcardtheref.com he was voted the worst referee of the 2014 World Cup - collecting 87,362 votes out of 110,000.

Undaunted, his motto is: “You can’t please everyone.”

Mazic continued to court controversy after the World Cup.

After last season’s Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, Atletico midfielder Mario Suarez said: “The referee is very bad. They can’t use a Serbian referee for these type of games, with all my respect. I hope that in the return leg they pick a better referee.”

With Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno hovering just one yellow card from a ban, Reds fans will be concerned to hear that most of Mazic’s frequent cards are shown to away teams.

In this season's Champions League he has shown 27 yellow cards and one red card.

He has crossed paths with Liverpool before, refereeing the Liverpool vs Sparta Prague Europa League match in the 2010/11 season when he gave seven yellow cards - four to Liverpool, three to Prague.

Comparison with Carlos Velasco Carballo

Milorad Mazic vCarlos Velasco Carballo

Yellow Card Total: 369 Yellow Card Total: 282

Red Card Total: 21 Red Card Total: 7

Penalties Awarded Total: 22 Penalties Awarded Total: 28