Manchester United's Casemiro is one booking away from being handed a one-match ban in the Europa League.
Casemiro has already sat out four games due to suspension this season. He was unavailable for the 3-2 loss to Arsenal in January after picking up five Premier League yellow cards in United's first 19 games before his red card against Crystal Palace ruled him out of two matches against Leeds and another against Leicester last month.
Uefa rules state that players who pick up three yellow cards from the group stages of any of its competitions onwarsd will be suspended for the next European match. Casemiro is currently on two, having been cautioned in both play-off legs against Barcelona.
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Should Casemiro avoid going into the notebook during the first leg of the tie with Real Betis but pick up a third booking in the trip to Spain, he would miss the first leg of the quarter-final tie, should United progress.
Meanwhile, four Betis players are walking the same tightrope, most notably goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. The former Manchester City shot-stopper has two yellow cards against his name and was benched in the final group game to avoid suspension having been the club’s Europa League goalkeeper this season.
Also, German Pezzella, Luiz Filipe and Aitar Ruibal - all defenders - are one caution away from suspension for Betis, who drew 0-0 with Champions League holders Real Madrid on Sunday. All yellow cards are wiped after the quarter-final stage with all getting a clean slate for the semi-finals onwards.
However, should Casemiro or any other player pick up a third booking in the second leg of the quarter-final, they would miss the semi-final first leg with all pending suspensions carried over.
From three bookings onwards, every odd-numbered booking constitutes a one-game ban prior to the semi-finals. So, a player on three yellow cards will be suspended again if he picks up a fifth, seventh and so on.
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