Captain bans hit trio hard

Third yellow
Steven Gerrard was largely responsible for Liverpool winning through to face Bayer 04 Leverkusen but has been handed a one-match suspension for three yellow cards in this season's competition, including a caution against Grazer AK in the third qualifying round. It means the England midfield player will not be present when Leverkusen arrive at Anfield on Tuesday.

Worrying time
Bremen defender Baumann will be sidelined the following day when his side welcome French champions Olympique Lyonnais to the Weserstadion. He picked up three yellows during his club's successful group stage showing, including successive cards on Matchdays 5 and 6. Bremen will also be worried because four players - Valerien Ismaël, Johan Micoud, Christian Schulz and Paul Stalteri - could miss the return against Lyon if booked.

Duo missing
However, Porto will arguably suffer the most when they receive FC Internazionale Milano on Wednesday. They will be without skipper Jorge Costa after his three yellow cards in the group stage and also talented midfielder Diego, who was sent off during his side's penalty shoot-out success against CD Once Caldas in the European/South American Cup last December.

Fair play foes
All of the other contenders will have players walking a disciplinary tightrope during their first-leg matches, except for FC Bayern München and Arsenal FC who meet at the Olympiastadion on Tuesday. Although Arsenal had Patrick Vieira and Lauren suspended on Matchday 6, like their forthcoming opponents they have no players on two yellow cards.