Modric suspended for Barça first leg due to three-year-old ban
Luka Modric is to serve a one-match ban picked up in the 2014 Spanish Super Cup. Under new rules, he would have already seen it out.Champions League draw 2018
Luka Modric is to miss Real Madrid's Spanish Super Cup first leg away to Barcelona due to a suspension that he picked up three years ago - one which, under current rules, he would already have served.
Modric to serve suspension from 2014 Super Cup defeat
Modric is ineligible for the clash at the Camp Nou on Sunday as he was sent off against Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the trophy's 2014 edition, the Croat receiving a stoppage-time second yellow as Los Blancos lost 2-1 on aggregate.
At the time of the 31-year-old midfielder's dismissal, the Spanish Football Federation's Disciplinary Code stipulated that suspensions were to be seen out in the competition in which they were incurred.
As this is Real's first appearance in the Super Cup since then, Modric has therefore had to wait until now to serve his punishment.
Super Cup suspensions now served in LaLiga or Copa
The 2014 Super Cup was the last to be affected by the regulation: since the following year, a change to the Disciplinary Code means that bans carried over from the domestic curtain-raiser now take effect in subsequent LaLiga or Copa fixtures.
As a result, any players with pending suspensions after this year's second leg will be banned for the start of the LaLiga campaign.