Markus Merk of Germany will referee his fourth Liverpool game of his career as we face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

The retired German dentist is widely recognised as one of Europe's if not the world's top referees and has been a FIFA referee since 1992. He has two World Cups and two European Championships under his belt as well as the Champions League Final and also the now defunct Cup Winners Cup Final. He only needs the World Cup Final and the UEFA Cup Final to make a unique set and become the first official to referee in all the major finals after he refereed Greece's EURO 2004 triumph over Portugal.

The 45-year old referee was born in Kaiserslautern in March 1962 and is the record holder for the number of games refereed in Germany. He has twice won the FIFA Referee of the Year award in 2004 and 2005 and won the Referee of the Year in Germany six times.

In 1988 he was the youngest ever referee in the Bundesliga and it only took him four years to make the grade and get a FIFA badge. In the same year 1992 he officiated in the Barcelona Olympics. He very nearly retired from football altogether after this years World Cup, after he was dramatically dropped from the tournament after being criticised heavily by our own Harry Kewell for favouring Brazil and by USA's Bruce Arena for the decision to give Ghana a penalty that ultimately won them the game. He was highly critical of UEFA after that saying "They robbed me of two weeks of my life". He suffered from depression and was close to quitting, but after many people begged him to reconsider including fans in the street he decided to carry on.

He stopped practising as dentist in 2005 as he opposed the German law of taxing patients, he now speaks at motivational seminars. In his early years he was ridiculed for his high pitched voice that was only cured after extensive therapy. He is possibly one of the fittest referees around as well, he has a time of 2.42 for a marathon which is only 30 minutes slower than the Olympic record.

Merk is a very active charity worker who spends a lot of time in India providing dental care and also helping other organisations building houses for the many homeless.

He has over 30 Champions League games under his belt and even more international games, and was recently at Old Trafford as he refereed the UEFA match between Manchester United and Europe XI to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and Manchester United's entry into Europe.

Last season he refereed Chelsea's 1-1 draw in Barcelona, and 2 years before that he refereed their 2-1 win at Highbury that saw Chelsea progress to the next stage of the Champions League.

His assistants for the game will be Jan-Hendrik Salver and Carsten Kadach with Felix Brych as the fourth official.

Some memorable matches involving German officials and Liverpool.

2nd October 1968 (K.Tschenscher) - Emlyn Hughes' first European strike for Liverpool cannot stop Liverpool going out of the Fairs Cup to Athletico Bilbao on the toss of a coin after both legs ended up 2-1 home wins.

28th April 1976 (F.Biwersi) - Liverpool come back from a 2-0 deficit at half time to beat FC Bruges 3-2 in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Final.

31st October 1996 (H.Strampe) - A high scoring Cup Winners' Cup game at Anfield as Sion are beaten 6-3.

5th February 2001 (M.Merk) - Two goals from Michael Owen in Italy saw us win at AS Roma in the 4th round 1st leg of the UEFA Cup.

17th September 2002 (H.Fandel) - Liverpool lose their first game of the Champions League group stage 2-0 to Rafa Benitez' Valencia.

20th March 2003 (M.Merk) - Celtic end Liverpool's participation in the UEFA Cup with a 2-0 second leg win at Anfield.

6th December 2005 (H.Fandel) - A goalless draw at Stamford Bridge ensures we secured top spot in the Champions League group stage.

9th August 2006 (W.Stark) - Bellamy and Gonzalez open their Liverpool accounts with a 2-1 win over Macabbi Haifa.