Arsenal have one player at immediate risk of a yellow card suspension heading into the knockout stages of the Champions League, but many others are just two cards away.
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Arsenal have suffered several yellow card suspensions during the Champions League stage, with Martin Zubimendi suspended against Slavia Praha and midfielders Mikel Merino and Declan Rice suspended against Kairat Almaty.
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One positive from these suspensions is that none of the three are one yellow card away from being suspended, but Christian Norgaard is.
UEFA stipulates that players will be banned for one game after receiving their third yellow card of the tournament, while Nogaard will be banned for two games after receiving yellow cards against Slavia Prague and Club Brugge. If there is another game on Wednesday, he will miss the second leg of the last 16 match.
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Others will be banned after just one yellow card, but Merino, Zubimendi, Rice, Miles Lewis-Skelly, Ben White, Ricardo Calafiore, Gabriel Magalhaas and Noni Maduek will all be banned for two – if Arsenal continue to progress in the game.
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That’s because the next threshold for a ban is five yellow cards, compared to three for Merino, Zubimendi and Rice. The other five players received one yellow card each, two away from the first threshold of three yellow cards.
Yellow cards will be cleared later in the game, but not until after the quarter-finals.
To be clear, a third/fifth/seventh yellow card in the second leg of a quarter-final will still result in a suspension for the first leg of the semi-final. The yellow card was not wiped out until after the second round. In practical terms, this means you won’t be banned from playing in the second leg of a semi-final or in the final.
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The rest of Arsenal’s players are very safe at the moment as none of them have been booked once. But considering you only need three bookings to get your first ban, you can quickly find yourself at risk.
