The four Tottenham players walking suspension tightrope ahead of AZ Alkmaar Europa League clash..
Four of Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham players are running the risk of picking up a one-match ban in Europe.
Tottenham will be looking to make it a double over AZ Alkmaar when the sides meet once again in the Europa League on Thursday evening. Facing each other back in October in the league phase, Spurs came out on top with all three points following Richarlison’s second-half penalty.
Following the draw for the round of 16 of UEFA’s second club competition, Tottenham and AZ will again face each other but this time with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs. Ajax or Eintracht Frankfurt await the winner of the last 16 game in the next round.
Tottenham are currently the favourites to lift the Europa League trophy in Bilbao in May but it will be far from straightforward with teams such as Athletic Club and Lazio also eyeing the prize. What should help Spurs in the knockout phase of the competition is that they look set to receive a timely boost on the injury front.
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It should not be too long until Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison are in a position to play again, with the possibility of some returning to the squad this Thursday at AFAS Stadion. Things do appear to be looking up for Tottenham on the injury front right now but it can quite easily change for the north London side going on how the season has panned out thus far.
Ahead of their first game in the knockout phase of the competition, four Tottenham players are going to have to watch their step as they are walking the disciplinary tightrope. Yellow cards from the league phase are carried over to the knockout stage and that means some players could possibly end up serving a suspension very soon.
Article 63.02 of the UEFA Europa League regulations states: “From the first match in the league phase, players and team officials are suspended for the next competition match after three cautions, that did not result in a red card, as well as after any subsequent odd-numbered caution (fifth, seventh, ninth, etc.).”
Yellow cards are carried over from the league phase and are not wiped out until the conclusion of the quarter-final stage. Article 63.04 states: “Exceptionally, all yellow cards and pending yellow-card suspensions expire on completion of the play-offs. They are not carried forward to the league phase. In addition, all yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals. They are not carried forward to the semi-finals.”
Four Tottenham players are running the risk of a one-match ban in the Europa League as they are currently on two yellow cards from the league phase. Radu Dragusin is another Spurs star on two yellow cards in Europe but he cannot obtain a one-match ban as he is out for the remainder of the season through injury and no longer in Spurs’ European squad as a result.
The four players in question are Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Dejan Kulusevski. Spurs are certainly well stocked in the middle of the park but Ange Postecoglou will not want to do without his players for either the second leg of their round of 16 tie or for one of the two quarter-final showdowns if they are to progress.
For that to be the case, the quartet will have to avoid going into the referee’s notebook in Tottenham’s next four European games, providing of course that they get the better of AZ Alkmaar over two legs in the round of 16 to make the quarter-finals.
