he Betis faces this Thursday the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League against the Panathinaikos and he will do it with two of his players on the verge of suspension. so much Aitor Ruibal as Valentín Gómez They have … They have received two yellow cards in the current competition, so if they were cautioned in the match to be played in Athens, Manuel Pellegrini would not be able to count on them in the duel at La Cartuja.
The green and white captain received yellow cards in the duels against Ludogorets and Olympique de Lyon, so he already played several matches in the group stage under warning; In the case of the Argentine defender, he received warnings against Dinamo Zagreb and on the last day against Feyenoord.
In the current Europa League, the green and white club already had one sanctioned for accumulation of warnings during the group stage, after Ricardo Rodríguez received three yellow cards against Nottingham Forest, Ludogorets and Utrecht. And even for this match against Panathinaikos, Pellegrini could not have counted on youth player Morante, who appears as suspended on the UEFA website after having been reprimanded in both the Europa League and the Youth League.
The Greek team also has three players on alert. They are the cases of Davide Calabria, Sverrir Ingason and Manolis Siopisthat they would miss the return leg in Seville if they received a yellow this Thursday. Yes, he will recover Rafa Benítez for the return of Ahmed Touba, Javi Hernández and Takos Bakasetas, who are suspended for the first leg.
It must be taken into account that both yellow cards and pending suspensions are not cleared after the group stage, but are carried over to the following knockout rounds. However, all yellow cards are eliminated upon completion of the quarterfinals, ensuring that no player misses the final due to an accumulation of cautions, the first cycle of which is fulfilled with three cards, while the subsequent cycles only require two.