Manchester City head into their Champions League against Real Madrid with an early advantage, with four players from the Spanish side at risk of being suspended for the second leg.
In the Champions League, players who pick up three yellow cards in that season’s competition will receive a one-game suspension, with all players’ accumulated cards wiped following the conclusion of the quarter-finals. This means it is impossible to miss the final due to the yellow card rule.
But with Real Madrid hosting Manchester City on Tuesday night for the first leg, four players are already walking a disciplinary tightrope ahead of the second leg.
Bellingham is at risk of a suspension (Image credit: Getty Images)
Indeed, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr., Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni all have two yellow cards in the Champions League this season, meaning if they’re booked at the Bernabeu they won’t be available for the second leg against Manchester City.
And that could prove to be a big advantage for Pep Guardiola’s side, with the quartet having made an accumulated 21 starts in the Champions League between them out of a possible 32. Of course, Bellingham and Vinicius Jr. would prove the biggest losses for Carlo Ancelotti, with the pair having scored seven and assisted a further seven goals between them in the competition this term.
Both Tchouameni and Camavinga are important players, too, though, and Real Madrid certainly won’t want to be without the French duo to take on Manchester City. This will be the third time in successive years that both clubs have met in the Champions League knockout stages, with each winning one tie apiece.
Man City and Real Madrid meet for the third time in as many years (Image credit: Getty Images)
Manchester City, meanwhile, only have Ruben Dias at risk of missing the second leg, though if a number of players are booked in Spain then they could miss the semi-finals – should they progress to that stage.
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Elsewhere, Arsenal will be hoping that Declan Rice and Kai Havertz stay out of the referee’s book against Bayern Munich, otherwise they also run the risk of not being available in a couple of week’s time.
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