With their 3-2 victory over Paris Saint Germain in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, FC Barcelona have a clear chance of advancing into the semi-finals of the competition.
However, the Catalans still have to play the second leg at the Montjuic this Tuesday, and Xavi’s men cannot be too complacent in this match as they have only a single-goal lead over the Parisians.
One of the issues that the Blaugranes will have to be wary about in particular is the accumulation of bookings, as yellow cards to some of their key players will not only impact their freedom to play in that PSG match in particular, but can also jeopardize their participation in the semi-finals if Barcelona ultimately advances into that round.
As Mundo Deportivo has noted, there are five players in particular who are in danger of being suspended for a possible semi-final first-leg if they get a yellow card against PSG. These players include some of the most important ones for Xavi, including Frenkie de Jong, Lamine Yamal, Ronald Araujo, Joao Felix, and Ferran Torres.
Thus, all these players will have to be very careful in the match this coming Tuesday. However, if they are able to successfully avoid a yellow card in this match, they will be able to go into the semi-finals with a clean slate, as their yellow card accumulation will be wiped out.
However, avoiding these cards will be easier said than done, especially since some of these players might be forced into making punishable tackles to stop players as fast and explosive as Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
Other than these five players, two players who will not be able to participate in the match against PSG itself are Sergi Roberto and Andreas Christensen, who both were shown yellow cards in the first leg against the Parisian giants.
