Boca’s three players one booking from a ban for Cruzeiro clash | OneFootball

Boca head into a high-stakes Libertadores meeting with Cruzeiro knowing three players are one caution from suspension.

According to LaNumer12.com.ar, Leandro Paredes, Lautaro Blanco and Ayrton Costa each sit on two yellow cards, so a booking against the Belo Horizonte club would rule them out of the sixth and final group game against Universidad Católica.

Their cautions so far came as follows, Paredes versus Universidad Católica and Cruzeiro, Blanco versus Universidad Católica and Cruzeiro, and Costa versus Cruzeiro and Barcelona.

CONMEBOL’s rules add longer-term jeopardy, bookings do not reset before the last-16 or the quarter-finals, they clear only at the start of the semi-finals.

Boca are already without Santiago Ascacibar, dismissed against Barcelona in Ecuador, and hit with a two-match ban, so he will miss Cruzeiro and the Católica finale.

Discipline also carries financial and competitive weight, CONMEBOL fines USD 400 per yellow in the group stage, and Boca’s 10 cautions to date amount to USD 4,000, while yellow count is the fifth tie-breaker if teams finish level on points.

Head coach Claudio Úbeda counts on the trio, and with the group concluding on Thursday 28 against Católica, the message is to play with intensity but avoid needless fouls, protests or actions that could draw a card from referee Jesús Valenzuela.

Source: LaNumer12.com.ar