Report: Spurs star is set to face a suspension for something he did 18 months ago
Tottenham’s assault on the Europa League begins later this month, but they will start their campaign without one of their most influential players because he picked up a red card 18 months ago.
Romero ruled out
On September 26, Spurs will host Azerbaijan outfit Qarabag FK in the first of eight Europa League group stage fixtures.
The Lilywhites are strong favourites to win that tie, and have even been made the bookies’ favourites to win the whole tournament.
But, they will need to find a way to win against Qarabag without star defender, Cristian Romero. That’s because, as per Football.London, the Argentinian has a one-match ban to serve because of two yellow cards he picked up against AC Milan in March 2023.
In that Champions League second-leg game, Romero picked up a yellow card early on in the first half. He received another yellow with just over ten minutes to go and got his marching orders.
Spurs drew that game 0-0, which was not enough to overturn the 1-0 deficit from the first leg at the San Siro.
UEFA rules state that any one or two-match ban stands for two years, and as that was the last European game for Spurs, Romero’s suspension still needs to be served.
Who will replace Romero?
The natural choice for Ange Postecoglou would be to play Radu Dragusin and Micky van de Ven together at the back. The Dutchman is currently injured but is expected to be fit for the North London derby on September 15th.
Postecoglou will be hoping he faces no other selection issues in defence for that Europa League game, as he has only selected six recognised defenders for his squad in that competition.
Spurs Web Opinion
It’ll always be a big loss to have Romero out of the side, but I think of any game this season, the Qarabag tie is one where we can just about afford to lose him. Now I’m just praying that doesn’t come back to bite me.
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