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One to watch for Newcastle United ahead of December’s Champions League clash away to Bayer Leverkusen.
Newcastle lost their Champions League group phase opener to Barcelona but back-to-back wins over Union Saint-Gilloise and Benfica have increased hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
Next month, Eddie Howe’s side host Athletic Bilbao at St James’ Park before travelling to Marseille. In December, United then head to Bayer Leverkusen, who could be without one of their key players.
Bayer Leverkusen star shown straight red card v Paris Saint-Germain
The Bundesliga outfit suffered a 7-2 defeat at home to reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night as both teams were reduced to 10 men in the first half.
William Pacho handed PSG the lead before Alejandro Grimaldo squandered the opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot. Then, in the 31st minute, a major bit of controversy occurred.
Andrich was initially awarded a yellow card by Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano for an elbow in the face of Desire Doue, however it was unsurprisingly upgraded to a red card following a VAR check.
But PSG’s man advantage lasted just over five minutes. Illya Zabaryni was sent off and conceded a penalty after stopping Christian Kofane from scoring. Aleix Garcia took over the penalty duties from Grimaldo and levelled.
But in the second-half, the French giants ran riot. Goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes and a Doue double put the visitors 5-1 up before Garcia pulled a goal back. Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha then made it 7-2.
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After the game, Bayer managing director Simon Rolfes did not hide from criticising Andrich. It was the defender’s second red card of the season having been shown two yellow cards in his side’s 3-1 Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
“Of course, you weaken your team by doing that. You have to make sure you finish games with eleven players on the pitch. No matter who you’re playing against, he needs to stop doing that,” Rolfes said, via Bullinews.
“The result really hurts. But I do believe – the boys have always shown this – that they can learn from it and grow from it, and that’s how we will approach it. You must never lose your head. At this level, you always have to maintain your stability and concentration.
UEFA could extend Robert Andrich’s ban - Newcastle United up soon
Straight red cards in the Champions League result in an automatic one-match ban, meaning Andrich will miss Leverkusen’s next game against Benfica. However, given the 31-year-old was sent off for serious foul play, his ban could still be extended.
UEFA rules state: “As a rule, a player or team official sent off by the referee is automatically suspended for the next match in a UEFA club competition (i.e. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League or UEFA Super Cup).
“In the event of a serious offence, the UEFA disciplinary bodies are entitled to augment this punishment, including by extending it to other competitions.”
In the Premier League, red cards for violent conduct result in an automatic three-match ban. The same punishment in the Champions League would see Andrich miss the visit of Newcastle to the BayArena on December 10.
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