Newcastle United £53m duo at risk of Champions League ban due to UEFA rules
Union Saint-Gilloise v Newcastle United: Eddie Howe’s side are back in Champions League action on Wednesday night.
Newcastle United will be looking to pick up their first Champions League away win in 22 years when they visit Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels.
The Magpies lost their opening group phase match against Barcelona just under a fortnight ago 2-1 at St James’ Park. Eddie Howe’s side have seven games to qualify in the top 24 of the 36-team group in order to reach the knockout round play-off or in the top eight to reach the last 16.
Newcastle’s last Champions League away win came against Bayer Leverkusen in 2003 when a Shola Ameobi brace and another from Lomana LuaLua helped Sir Bobby Robson’s side to a 3-1 victory.
The Magpies drew their final away match in the competition that season 2-2 at Inter Milan. 20 years later, they returned to the San Siro to draw 0-0 with AC Milan before losing 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund and controversially drawing 1-1 at Paris Saint-Germain following a stoppage-time Kylian Mbappe penalty.
Union SG are the Belgian champions and won their first ever Champions League match 3-1 against PSV Eindhoven a fortnight ago.
After the trip to Belgium, Newcastle host Benfica and Athletic Club before trips to Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen. PSV visit St James’ Park in the new year before the group phase ends with a trip to holders PSG.
The Gazette has launched a new WhatsApp NUFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our NUFC WhatsApp channel.
Newcastle United team news
Newcastle will be without the injured Tino Livramento, Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa for their second Champions League match.
Jamaal Lascelles, Harrison Ashby, John Ruddy and Mark Gillespie are also ineligible to feature having been left out of the official squad list for the group phase matches.
Fabian Schar and Lewis Hall have travelled with the squad after missing Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Given the busy fixture schedule and the added demand of Champions League football, Newcastle will be hoping to avoid any further injury blows. Yellow card suspensions will also come into play following Wednesday night’s match.
Football is BACK - subscribe to our Newcastle United newsletter for all the news straight to your inbox
UEFA suspension rules explained
Newcastle’s opening Champions League match against Barcelona saw Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg show yellow cards to Joelinton and Dan Burn.
UEFA rules on yellow card suspensions read: “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.).”
Burn and Joelinton, therefore, know two more bookings would see them handed a one-match European ban. Should either player be booked against Union SG on Wednesday night, they would be only one more booking away from a suspension in the Champions League.
And with six games still to play after Wednesday, it’s a lot of games to get through without being cautioned, especially for a typically physical player like Joelinton.
Rules on red card suspensions read: “As a rule, a player or team official sent off by the referee is automatically suspended for the next match in a UEFA club competition (i.e. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League or UEFA Super Cup). In the event of a serious offence, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body is entitled to augment this punishment, including by extending it to other competitions.”
Suspensions in European competitions do not carry over into domestic matches. This means any player banned from UEFA competitions can still play in the Premier League. The same rule applies to domestic bans as well as with Newcastle allowed to play Anthony Gordon against Barcelona while he was serving a suspension in the Premier League.