Ainsley Maitland-Niles lors de Qarabag – OL (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)
During the success against Frankfurt (3-2), Ainsley Maitland-Niles received his second yellow card in the Europa League. Now he is under threat of suspension.
During the match between OL and Frankfurt, won by the Lyonnais 3 goals to 2, on December 12, the referee of the match drew the cards. Twelve in total, including six in added time. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was one of the players sanctioned after a shove with Rasmus Kristensen. That day, the Englishman and his teammates showed character to dominate a great Bundesliga team.
Unfortunately for the people of Rhone, this poster will have repercussions for the future, and not only positive ones. If this success ideally places Pierre's men Sage for a qualification in the top 8 of the Europa League, he also caused the suspension of Nicolas Tagliafico. Booked three times since the start of the campaign, the Argentinian full-back will miss the trip to Istanbul to face Fenerbahçe on January 23.
The counter reset to zero after the quarters
This will not be the case for Maitland-Niles, but the versatile footballer has already suffered two “rusks” in C3. In the third, he will in turn be suspended for a game. A strategic choice could also be to make him take this third card in Türkiye. He would then miss the Ludogorets reception the following week to finish the classification phase. Thus, the counter will be reset to zero before the serious things begin, either the play-offs or the round of 16.
Remember that warnings are reset to zero at the end of the quarter-finals. You should also know that a second sanction occurs at the 5th warning, then at the 7th, and so on.
