News on Aston Villa via BirminghamLive as Unai Emery gets ready for the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarterfinal matchup with Lille
Going into Thursday’s quarterfinal first leg match against Lille in the Europa Conference League, Aston Villa has three players who are now one yellow card away from a suspension.
If Villa wins the competition and John McGinn, Moussa Diaby, and Matty Cash receive their third caution of the European campaign next week, they will all be eliminated from the second leg of the tournament or the first leg of the semi-final.
Cash is doubtful to play the next week due to an injury sustained during Thursday’s home game against Lille, but McGinn and Diaby are both walking a tightrope in terms of discipline. Ezri Konsa, meanwhile, has also received two bookings. However, as both were issued during the same game and the second one resulted in his dismissal at Ajax, he is still two bookings away from a further one-match suspension.
The rules of the UEFA Europa Conference League say: “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.).”
Nicolo Zaniolo collected his third European booking in the first leg of last month’s match and was unable to play in the second leg due to UEFA’s suspension regulations. If the Italian player receives five yellow cards in both legs of this month’s match against Lille, he is the only player who could face a ban.
The semi-final stage is then initiated with the removal of all yellow cards. This implies that, should Villa advance, a player’s receipt of one yellow card in one semi-final leg will not result in their suspension for the final.
Except for Zaniolo, Cash, Konsa, McGinn, and Diaby, not a single player has multiple bookings. Seven Villa players in all have received one booking, and they can only be suspended with a warning during the two legs of their matchup with Lille in France.
Nicolo Zaniolo – 3
Matty Cash, John McGinn, Moussa Diaby, Ezri Konsa – 2
Clement Lenglet, Youri Tielemans, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, Ollie Watkins, Jhon Duran, Morgan Rogers – 1
