Liverpool will need to toe a tight disciplinary line when they take on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie tonight.
The Reds finished top of the 36-team league phase, which concluded in January, although their ‘reward’ is a two-legged joust against a bang in-form PSG side who’ve won their last 10 matches in all competitions, including a 7-0 home walloping of Brest in the knockout play-off round last month.
Arne Slot will be hoping for a different result to LFC’s last visit to the Parc des Princes (a 2-1 defeat in November 2018), and he’ll also have his fingers crossed that Italian referee Davide Massa doesn’t have to reach for his pocket too often.
Four Liverpool players at risk of suspension if booked tonight
Liverpool go into tonight’s clash with four players at risk of suspension if they receive a yellow card in Paris – Alexis Mac Allister (booked four times in Europe this season), Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Harvey Elliott (booked twice each).
As explained on UEFA.com, ‘from the first match in the group stage, players and team officials are suspended for the next competition match after three cautions, which did not result in a red card, as well as following any subsequent odd-numbered caution (fifth, seventh, ninth, etc.)’.
All previous yellow cards are wiped on completion of the quarter-finals, so a player can be booked in both legs of the semi-finals and still be eligible for the final, unless they receive a red card in the second leg.
Liverpool at risk of being depleted for the second leg
Mac Allister has already served a ban in this season’s Champions League, missing Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Girona in December as he’d accumulated three yellow cards by that point, and he’s had another since to leave him on four bookings in the competition.
Frustratingly, his most recent caution came in stoppage time of the win over Lille in January as he was booked for a foul despite the referee appearing to play advantage. At that juncture, the Reds were already assured of a direct passage to the round of 16.
Elliott was also yellow-carded in added time that night for delaying the taking of a throw-in, with his second booking coming in the following week’s inconsequential defeat to PSV Eindhoven, with the 21-year-old contriving to have two yellows to his name despite only playing 149 minutes in Europe this season.
Of the Liverpool quartet at risk of suspension, he’s the least likely to start tonight, although Slot may be sweating over Konate in particular should he go into Massa’s notebook.
With Joe Gomez sidelined by a long-term injury, a suspension for the Frenchman would leave the Reds with just two natural centre-backs from which to select for the second leg – and that’s if Virgil van Dijk and Jarell Quansah avoid a red card tonight or getting injured prior to next Tuesday.
Let’s hope that LFC can return from Paris with a positive result, and without any of the four players in yellow card trouble being banned for the reverse fixture at Anfield in six days’ time.
