Bernardo Silva handed Champions League suspension after Real Madrid booking | OneFootball

Manchester City will be forced to compete in their next UEFA Champions League outing without their club captain following an accumulation of yellow cards.

The Blues came from behind to secure one of their biggest results of the campaign so far as a first goal for Nico O’Reilly in the UEFA Champions League and an Erling Haaland penalty overturned a one-goal lead Real Madrid acquired through Rodrygo.

City have thereby climbed to fourth place in the UEFA Champions League group-phase standings and are in a strong position to go on and secure qualification for the Round of 16 stage of the competition.

Pep Guardiola’s side lost 2-0 at home to Bayer Leverkusen last time out in the UEFA Champions League but for reasons on and off the pitch, three points at the Santiago Bernabeu will be a world of good to a new-look, young dressing room vying for silverware at a nascent stage of their transition under the stewardship of sporting director Hugo Viana.

A tricky game away at Crystal Palace next awaits Manchester City and Guardiola, who landed back in Manchester from Madrid on Thursday morning and will be eyeing a fifth straight win in all competitions in south London on Sunday.

It has been a fine few weeks for Manchester City, who closed the gap to Premier League leaders Arsenal to two points last week courtesy of a 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium, with Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden on the scoresheet.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fell to a dramatic 2-1 defeat away at Aston Villa owing to an injury-time Emiliano Buendia winner that has put Manchester City in touching distance of Mikel Arteta’s men, who welcome Wolves to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday after maintaining their perfect UEFA Champions League record this term with a 3-0 win over Club Brugge this week.

The jury is out on whether Manchester City can build on their rich vein of form since September and sustain a challenge for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League as the season progresses, but Guardiola and co can only beat what’s in front of them and they will be taking huge confidence from a historic night in Madrid.

Having picked up a yellow card up in Wednesday’s win against Xabi Alonso’s men, Manchester City skipper Bernardo Silva will be forced to sit out against Bodo/Glimt in Norway for his side’s next European encounter.

UEFA rules state that from the first match in the league phase, players and team officials are suspended for the next competition match after three cautions, that did not result in a red card, as well as after any subsequent odd-numbered caution (fifth, seventh, ninth, etc).

Single yellow cards and pending suspensions are always carried forward to the next stage of the competition. In addition, all yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals and are not carried forward to the semi-finals.

Additionally, following their two yellow cards across this season’s UEFA Champions League, both Nico O’Reilly and Savinho would be suspended for the home meeting with Galatasaray on matchday eight of the league phase if they were to be booked against Bodo/Glimt.