Striker Situation for CL Group Stage

[macmanson]

Not sure if it has been covered elsewhere but we may end up with only 2 senior strikers available for the opening 3 games of the CL group stage. Balotelli will be serving a 3 game suspension for his red card in the Europa League last season.

So if Augero signs and Tevez leaves, we would only have Augero and Dzeko available for the opening 3 games of the group stage. So hopefully Bob puts a lot of work into forming a partnership with these 2 because making it out of the group stages is going to be heavily dependent on how that partnership works this season.

 

[adrianr]

Bit bloody harsh on the red card for Balo ain't it? A true shame though, we're a better team with him in it and I don't want to play against Barca or Real Madrid thinking what if at the end.

 

[CTID Chris]

Not sure if it has been covered elsewhere but we may end up with only 2 senior strikers available for the opening 3 games of the CL group stage. Balotelli will be serving a 3 game suspension for his red card in the Europa League last season.

So if Augero signs and Tevez leaves, we would only have Augero and Dzeko available for the opening 3 games of the group stage. So hopefully Bob puts a lot of work into forming a partnership with these 2 because making it out of the group stages is going to be heavily dependent on how that partnership works this season.

Is it officially a 3 game ban, or are you just going off what it would be in the premier league? It's so long ago that I don't remember myself, and I don't know if it is the same as premier league rules.. I hope it isn't, 3 games would be ridiculous for what actually happened.

 

[The Pink Panther]

Barry can play up top by himself. European defences will be shitting themselves at the prospect of facing such blistering pace

 

[Reason Himself]

Aguero and Dzeko, with Silva and YaYa behind and Guidetti on the bench would be good enough against anyone. This, of course, provided the others gel with Aguero in time...

 

[goater1978]

I don't think he is banned for 3 games, the rules for Champions League suspensions are you get an automatic 1 game ban for a red card which then can be increased to four by Uefa afterwards. I don't think I have seen any reports that he had the ban increased?

 

[macmanson]

Not sure if it has been covered elsewhere but we may end up with only 2 senior strikers available for the opening 3 games of the CL group stage. Balotelli will be serving a 3 game suspension for his red card in the Europa League last season.

So if Augero signs and Tevez leaves, we would only have Augero and Dzeko available for the opening 3 games of the group stage. So hopefully Bob puts a lot of work into forming a partnership with these 2 because making it out of the group stages is going to be heavily dependent on how that partnership works this season.

Is it officially a 3 game ban, or are you just going off what it would be in the premier league? It's so long ago that I don't remember myself, and I don't know if it is the same as premier league rules.. I hope it isn't, 3 games would be ridiculous for what actually happened.

I don't think it has been officially stated as a 3 game ban but that's the general rule of thumb for UEFA red cards. I don't see anything on the UEFA site but the decision was supposed to be made on April 21st according to this Sun article:

UEFA will decide how many matches to ban Balotelli for when their control and disciplinary body meets on April 21.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag.../Mario-Balotelli-says-sorry-for-red-card.html

The Guardian had an article claiming he was suspended for 3 games but it's the only thing I've seen saying what the decision might have been.

Mancini's attitude towards the 20-year-old reinforces the sense of a manager who is not going to indulge anyone in his determination this season to have a side with genuine aspirations of challenging for the major honours. Balotelli scored 10 goals in 28 appearances after signing for £25m last summer, but he also picked up 11 yellow cards and two reds and will be suspended for the team's first three Champions League games because of the sending-off against Dynamo Kiev that contributed to City's elimination from the last 16 of the Europa League.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/24/mario-balotelli-roberto-mancini-friendly

I'm actually more worried if it hasn't been officially decided because I can see something shady going on where his suspension is somehow lengthened due to his reputation for cards gained last season and previous UEFA suspension (http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/matchorganisation/disciplinary/news/newsid=840412.html).<br /><br />-- Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:21 pm --<br /><br />Good thing that Tevez ended up staying afterall as it was officially confirmed on the UEFA match facts for the City vs Napoli game that Mario would be banned for 3 games.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1668616.html

UEFA Champions League statistics
• Mario Balotelli begins a three-match ban following his red card against FC Dynamo Kyiv in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg.

I still think we start with Augero and Dzeko for the opening 3 games though.