Arne Slot could be feeling particularly nervous over four Liverpool players during the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
The Reds are tasked with overcoming a 2-0 deficit from the first leg in the French capital last week, with Opta giving us just a 14.2% chance of progressing to the last four of the tournament, and Steve Nicol is among the pundits who feel that a famous comeback is beyond the Merseysiders’ capabilities.
If LFC are to pull off a memorable victory and eliminate the current European champions, it could potentially come at the cost of a depleted squad to face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
As per WhoScored, five Liverpool players have received two yellow cards so far in this season’s Champions League – Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Conor Bradley.
The latter won’t feature tomorrow night as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury, although the Scouse midfielder’s involvement in training today suggests that he could play a part despite picking up a suspected groin problem in the weekend win over Fulham.
UEFA rules state that a player who receives three yellow cards in European competition will incur a one-match suspension, although any bookings accumulated during the tournament are wiped upon completion of the quarter-finals.
Therefore, if Liverpool eliminate PSG but have any of Van Dijk, Gravenberch, Mac Allister or Jones booked, they would miss the first leg of the semi-final in a fortnight’s time.
However, if any of those are booked on Tuesday but the Reds don’t progress, their hypothetical suspensions wouldn’t carry over into European competition for next season.
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Overcoming PSG by two goals or more would be a huge feat for Slot’s side if they can pull it off, although there’s a risk that it comes at a significant cost if the aforementioned players are suspended for the semi-final first leg.
There’s an (admittedly improbable) scenario that, should they progress to the last four, Liverpool could be without three midfielders against either Bayern or Real Madrid if Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Jones are all shown yellow cards tomorrow night.
Right now, suspension-related absences would seem like a small price to pay if the Reds can complete another famous European comeback on Tuesday and keep hold of their one remaining chance of a trophy from this season.
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