Newcastle United pair will trigger UEFA Champions League suspension - on one condition
Newcastle United have two players who are on the brink of a Champions League ban.
Two Newcastle United players are walking a disciplinary tightrope heading into the Champions League clash away to Bayer Leverkusen.
Newcastle head to Germany eyeing a victory that will all but guarantee a place in the knockout rounds.
Eddie Howe’s side currently have nine points from their opening five matches, beating Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Club, though they have lost to Barcelona and Marseille.
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The defeat in Marseille came just over a fortnight ago. Harvey Barnes handed Newcastle the lead, but a quick-fire brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the beginning of the second half saw Howe’s men lose the game.
Newcastle United duo one yellow card away from Champions League ban
Dan Burn was shown a yellow card in the 65th minute for a cynical foul on midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, which saw him join Joelinton on two bookings in this season’s Champions League.
That means the duo must avoid a booking in the remaining league phase matches against Bayer 04, PSV Eindhoven and Paris Saint-Germain to escape an automatic one-match ban.
UEFA rules state “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 and red cards in the Champions League are competition-specific, meaning no Newcastle players are at risk of being suspended for the Tyne-Wear derby away to Sunderland on Sunday.
That is unless a serious offence occurs, as per UEFA Article 63.01, which states: “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 disciplinary bodies are entitled to augment this punishment, including by extending it to other competitions.”
Newcastle United team news ahead of Bayer Leverkusen & Sunderland games
Newcastle were boosted massively by Yoane Wissa’s debut against Burnley last Saturday, though they remain without several players due to injury.
Tino Livramento has not long returned from eight weeks out with a knee injury but started for a fourth consecutive game with fellow right-backs Kieran Trippier (hamstring) and Emil Krafth (knee) sidelined. Neither player is expected back until the Christmas period.
Aaron Ramsdale continued in goal for a third successive game as Nick Pope recovers from a groin injury. Pope too is likely to be missing until the Christmas period, though Howe didn’t rule out him returning slightly ahead of schedule.
Speaking about Pope’s recovery on Friday, Howe said: “Yeah, slightly unknown at the moment. Not a serious injury, not a long-term one, but enough to keep him out for probably the next two to three weeks. Probably looking at around Christmas time again for him.
“I think we've got a sort of a glut of players looking at that around Christmas return. If we can shave a bit of time off that and he can come back earlier, then great. But that's the plan at the moment.”
Meanwhile, uncertainty surrounds the fitness of Sven Botman and Will Osula. Botman received an injection for a back issue last week, with Newcastle waiting for the effects of that to ‘kick in’, while Osula is still nursing an ankle problem.
Osula withdrew from the matchday squad for the 2-0 victory over Athletic Club last month and hasn’t been involved since.
Howe said last week: “We need to have further discussions internally to see quite what's happening with his ankle because it's not going in a straight line. We're not quite happy with how he's feeling, so I'll try and give you some feedback when we get it.”