It is finally here, Newcastle United taking on Barcelona at 8pm tonight.
The first leg of this Champions League last 16 tie.
With eight days later, a 5.45pm kick-off in Barcelona on Wednesday 18 March for the second leg.
Both teams obviously looking for a positive result to give them an advantage ahead of that second leg,
However, yellow cards tonight could also play a significant part at St James’ Park, in terms of the state of play ahead of the game in Barclona.
Across the two squads, Newcastle United and Barcelona have a combined half dozen players at risk of suspension for that second leg.
These six players are currently on two Champions League yellow cards, a third will trigger a one game suspension for the next match.
For Barcelona that is Marc Casado, Gerard Martin, Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez.
Whilst for Newcastle United, Joelinton and Dan Burn are on two yellows each. Malick Thiaw has already served a one game suspension, missing the Qarabag second leg, after picking up three yellows.
Burn and Joelinton were actually the only two Newcastle United players booked against Barcelona in September. With Newcastle United then having played a further nine Champions League matches, I suppose a bit of a miracle that the pair of them have only picked up one more each, Joelinton against Union S-G and Burn against Marseille.
As you can see from the rules below, yellow cards will expire if we go beyond the quarter-finals.
These are the relevant UEFA rules…
Article 63.02
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.).
Article 63.03
Single yellow cards and pending suspensions are always carried forward to the next stage of the competition, except in the cases described in Article 63.04 below.
Article 63.04
Exceptionally, all yellow cards and pending yellow-card suspensions expire on completion of the play-offs. They are not carried forward to the league phase. In addition, all yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals. They are not carried forward to the semi-finals.
The 2025/26 Champions League leaderboard for Newcastle United players and yellow cards:
Thiaw 3, Burn 2, Joelinton 2, Ramsdale 1, Bruno 1, Gordon 1, Willock 1, Elanga 1, Tonali 1