Champions League suspensions: Real Madrid and Bayern Munich missing key players

It’s all to play for in the UCL quarter-finals but the Champions League’s yellow card rules have sidelined a number of big stars.

The Champions League returns this week with the second legs of four perfectly-poised quarter-finals. Each of the ties is either level or with a one-goal difference as we head into the return fixtures, meaning that all eight quarter-finalists have a real chance of making it through to the final four.

At this level, the elite of European soccer, the margins are tantalisingly fine, a single misplaced pass or errant touch can prove disastrous for a team’s hopes. Equally, the absence of a key player can be the difference between celebration and calamity.

Players receive a one-match ban for accumulating three yellow cards before the Champions League’s semi-final stage. After the first legs of the quarter-finals five players have hit that threshold and will miss the crucial return fixtures this week.

The absence of Aurélien Tchouaméni could be a major loss for Real Madrid given the Frenchman’s impressive form this season. Normally a midfielder, the 24-year-old has been fielded in the heart of defence in recent weeks as Los Blancos struggle through a raft of injuries. He impressed in the first leg against Manchester City, marshalling the explosive Erling Haaland well.

UCL suspension rules dictate that players are hit with a one-game ban when they reach three yellow cards in a single season. Beyond that, another suspension is doled out for each odd number of bookings (five, seven, etc). Of the players still in this year’s competition only Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain) and Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund) are in danger of reaching five bookings, triggering a second suspension.

The yellow card count is a