Barcelona mainstay one yellow card away from missing Spain’s first knockout clash at World Cup | OneFootball

Spain began their World Cup campaign with disappointment against Cape Verde, but got back on track with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

Barcelona’s star midfielder Pedri Gonzalez was a starter in both games. He was one of the team’s bright sparks in the opener and he opened up and bloomed again for the second game of the event.

Notably, however, the player is the recipient of the only yellow card the Spanish national team has seen in the event and it came against Cape Verde in the dying minutes. As a result, he is now at risk of suspension.

One sanction away

As reported by SPORT, Pedri is just one yellow card away from missing the Round of 32 game for Spain, and a sanction against Uruguay will rule him out of the first knockout clash.

Pedri facing suspension risk. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

The new rules from FIFA stipulate that two yellow cards in separate games of the same stage of the tournament result in a one-game ban, and that is exactly the threat Pedri is facing.

He already ran that risk when he featured against Saudi Arabia and would have been ruled out for the Uruguay clash had he been booked. Given Spain’s dominance on the night, however, he was never really pushed into a risky situation.

With the Uruguay clash carrying a lot of significance and potentially deciding who finishes on top, Pedri will not have it easy to avoid a booking through the ninety minutes. He will, thus, have to tread with serious caution.

The ‘reset’ law

Pedri could end up missing the Round of 32 game. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

As is the case in all knockout competitions, the FIFA World Cup also ‘erases’ accumulated cards at various stages in the tournament, and the Round of 32 is one of them.

What that implies is that if Pedri is sanctioned against Uruguay, he will miss the Round of 32 game. If he avoids a sanction against La Celeste, however, he will not only be available for the game but also have his slate wiped clean and start afresh with no accumulated cards.

The second stage where bookings are forgiven is after the quarterfinal stage, so players will then have to go through three games with less than two red cards to avoid a sanction.

Despite all the risk, Pedri is expected to start against Uruguay and will likely play in the deeper midfield role where he shone in the last game and regularly plays for Barcelona.