Play Your Cards Right: 60/1 booking treble for the Champions League Final
The 67th edition of the Champions League comes to its conclusion on Saturday when two of the most decorated sides, Real Madrid and Liverpool, battle it out at the Stade de France in Paris.
Real Madrid are record 13-time winners, having most recently lifted the coveted trophy when beating Liverpool in 2017/18.
Liverpool, meanwhile, sit joint-third on the list for European honours, winning the competition on six occasions and they are looking for their second success under Jurgen Klopp.
With so much at stake, it’s likely to be a heated affair in the French capital and the stats certainly suggest that will be the case.
With that in mind, we’re back with our latest edition of Play Your Cards Right, picking three players that could have their names taken on the night.
60/1 Play Your Cards Right treble
Ferland Mendy
Ferland Mendy’s campaign has been littered with injuries, restricting the full-back to nine appearances in the Champions League.
The defender looks set for a tough evening when lining up against Liverpool with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold to contend with.
With that attacking duo likely to be causing a major headache throughout, Mendy is a leading candidate to overstep the mark at some point.
Mendy has been shown three yellow cards in his nine appearances but those cards have come despite him committing just seven fouls.
That suggests Mendy is often caught out positionally and diving in to try and salvage a concerning situation, something which doesn’t bode well with Salah and Alexander-Arnold on his case.
Eder Militao
It’s worth noting that Real Madrid have picked up the joint-most yellow cards in the competition this season, falling foul of the referee on 26 occasions.
And Eder Militao has collected the joint-highest number of yellow cards for the club, receiving four across his 11 appearances.
The centre-back is a mainstay and certain to start in Paris so he’s hard to ignore – especially on the basis of his track record – when looking for someone who could feel the wrath of referee Clement Turpin.
It goes without saying that Liverpool’s attacking line, whoever is deployed, strikes fear in most backlines and Militao is set for a busy evening.
James Milner
Liverpool top the table for most foul committed in the Champions League this season – 138 – so it would be remiss to complete this treble without including at least one player.
There has been speculation that James Milner could start the final on Saturday with Thiago Alcantara almost a major doubt with an Achilles problem, while Fabinho faces a race against time to recover from a hamstring issue.
Even if Milner doesn’t get the nod from the outset, the veteran midfielder is one of Jurgen Klopp’s go-to men from the bench and he’s made eight appearances in the Champions League this term.
He’s picked up three cards in those eight outings, despite just starting three matches, and he had to serve a suspension during the group stage.
Of those three cards, one came when he turned out for just seven minutes against AC Milan and he was also booked during a nine-minute cameo against Porto.
Referee watch
Ligue 1 referee Clement Turpin will be the man with the whistle in his homeland this weekend.
The Frenchman oversaw last season’s Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester in Gdansk, Poland, dishing out four yellow cards, although one of those came in extra time.
Saturday’s game will be Turpin’s 14th assignment in the 2021/22 Champions League.
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