Sporting captain suspended for Arsenal quarter-final | OneFootball

Sporting CP will be without their team captain for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal due to suspension.

Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

Tuesday night was largely a very positive and historic one for Sporting CP, as they turned around a 3-0 deficit to win their Champions League tie against Bodo/Glimt 5-3 on aggregate.

But if there was one major negative from the performance, it was Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand picking up his fifth yellow card of the competition and earning a one-match suspension for their next game.

Hjulmand has played almost every minute of Sporting’s campaign so far, only coming off early in one game against Kairat Almaty and missing one other through a previous suspension.

In the other eight Champions League matches, he’s started and played through to the final whistle, including all 120 minutes on Tuesday. Yet he’ll now miss the Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Arsenal.

Photo by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images

Hjulmand will at least be able to feature in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium, which is good news for him as a boyhood Arsenal fan with an Arsenal tattoo.

The player explained previously: “When I started watching football, Arsenal had a fantastic team and Patrick Vieira was the captain and played in midfield. He was and is a great inspiration for me.

“My father had supported Arsenal for many years, and we started watching the games when we were younger. Thierry Henry was also an incredible player to watch.”

Morten Hjulmand

The rest of Arsenal’s fanbase will hope Hjulmand doesn’t end up eliminating his own favourite side in mid-April.

There will be nothing the 26-year-old can do on his home turf in Lisbon, and the Gunners will look to take advantage of his absence to take a good result back to north London.