Captain bans hit trio hard
Monday, 21 February 2005
Liverpool FC, Werder Bremen and FC Porto will all be missing their captains
when they play the first leg of their UEFA Champions League first knockout
round matches this week.

Third yellow
Steven Gerrard was largely responsible for Liverpool winning through to face
Bayer 04 Leverkusen but has been handed a one-match suspension for three
yellow cards in this season's competition, including a caution against Grazer
AK in the third qualifying round. It means the England midfield player will
not be present when Leverkusen arrive at Anfield on Tuesday.

Worrying time
Bremen defender Baumann will be sidelined the following day when his side
welcome French champions Olympique Lyonnais to the Weserstadion. He picked up
three yellows during his club's successful group stage showing, including
successive cards on Matchdays 5 and 6. Bremen will also be worried because
four players - Valerien Isma?l, Johan Micoud, Christian Schulz and Paul
Stalteri - could miss the return against Lyon if booked.

Duo missing
However, Porto will arguably suffer the most when they receive FC
Internazionale Milano on Wednesday. They will be without skipper Jorge Costa
after his three yellow cards in the group stage and also talented midfielder
Diego, who was sent off during his side's penalty shoot-out success against
CD Once Caldas in the European/South American Cup last December.

Fair play foes
All of the other contenders will have players walking a disciplinary
tightrope during their first-leg matches, except for FC Bayern München and
Arsenal FC who meet at the Olympiastadion on Tuesday. Although Arsenal had
Patrick Vieira and Lauren suspended on Matchday 6, like their forthcoming
opponents they have no players on two yellow cards.

--
FROM 166.111.180.39