Five Barcelona players at risk of suspension for Europa League semi-finals

Barcelona welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to Camp Nou on Thursday to try and advance to the Europa League semi-finals, and while the main objective is to beat the German side and book a place in the Final Four the Blaugrana also have to avoid key suspensions for the next round.

Gerard Piqué, Eric García, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Gavi are one yellow card away from an automatic one-game ban, which would cause them to miss the first leg of a potential semi-final against either Lyon or West Ham United away from home. All five of those players already avoided a yellow against Frankfurt last week and will have to do it again to be able to play in the next round if Barça do move on.

Piqué is the least likely of those five to be on the pitch as the defender is yet to be medically cleared from a groin injury and will probably not be involved at all. Eric, Alba and Busquets are locks to start on Thursday, and Gavi will most definitely play either from the start and off the bench and has shown a tendency to pick up silly bookings from time to time.

Yellow cards are wiped after the quarterfinals in both the Champions League and Europa League to avoid any suspensions for the Final, so the five Barça players need to stay in their best behavior for just one more night.