Real Madrid’s Militão to miss Champions League semi-final first leg after yellow card against Chelsea

Real Madrid’s Militão will miss the first leg of the Champions League semi-final after being booked against Chelsea in the Spanish side’s 2-0 win this evening in London. Madrid go through to the semi-final 4-0 on aggregate.

Both Militão and Carvajal were on alert after they saw their second yellow card of this Champions League tournament in the first leg. The centre-back got his first card in the game against Shakhtar in Warsaw, while the full-back opened his account on match day two, against RB Leipzig at the Bernabéu. Carvajal got through the game without a booking and will be available.

Militão will miss the first leg of the semi-final against City or Bayern at the Bernabéu. However Carvajal leaves Stamford Bridge with the threat defused, as all cards are wiped clean once the final four team are known. It is a particular nuance to the booking rule that UEFA introduced which prevents a player from missing the semi-finals or final for an accumulation of cards in earlier rounds, as happened with the absence of Xabi Alonso in the Lisbon final in 2014.

Ancelotti’s team hadn’t had any problems with card cycles until this game. Carvajal and Militão saw their second yellow cards (a 1-game suspension is handed out after three yellow cards and, if that cycle is completed, then after every two) in the first leg. Apart from these two warnings, only five other Madrid players have seen yellow cards in this edition of the Champions League: Lucas Vázquez, Mendy, Camavinga, Kroos and Vinicius. When the cards are cleared, all of them will be out of danger of missing a game due to the accumulation of bookings.

Chelsea, for their part, had eight on their list: Kepa, Thiago Silva, Reece James, Koulibaly (although he was out due to injury), Kovacic, Gallagher, Mudryk and Enzo Fernández, who has already completed his first cycle with Benfica in the group stage. In addition, Chilwell will not be able to play this second leg due to the red card he saw at the Bernabéu.