Barça behaviour sets standard

FC Barcelona will take a proud record into their Matchday 3 trip to Chelsea FC as they are the only one of this season's 32 teams yet to fall foul of a referee.

Steady start
The defending champions have enjoyed a steady start, winning 5-0 at home against PFC Levski Sofia and drawing 1-1 at Werder Bremen. No Barça players picked up a caution in either game which is in marked contrast to the fortunes experienced by Chelsea. The English club have seen five different players have their names taken in the respective 2-0 and 3-1 victories against Bremen and Levski, namely Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Jon Obi Mikel and John Terry.

Two off
FC Internazionale Milano have found discipline even harder to come by this term. Fabio Grosso and Zlatan Ibrahimović were both shown red cards in the 2-0 home defeat by FC Bayern München last time out and will be missing for Wednesday's visit of FC Spartak Moskva. One consolation is that Patrick Vieira is available again after sitting out the Bayern encounter. Iván Cordoba, Marco Materazzi and Francesco Toldo have all been booked once.

Joaquín back
Three other players will also have an enforced absence after being dismissed on the previous matchday. FC Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy, PSV Eindhoven defender Michael Lamey and Hamburger SV forward Benjamin Lauth are all on the sidelines for the games against Olympique Lyonnais, Galatasaray SK and FC Porto respectively. One positive for Hamburg is that goalkeeper Sascha Kirschstein is back after a ban as is Valencia CF winger Joaquín Sánchez, who returns after a two-match suspension to face FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

Caution needed
That meeting of Valencia and Shakhtar on Wednesday will see three defenders walking a tightrope. If any of Roberto Ayala or visiting players Anatoliy Tymoschuk and Tomáš Hübschman collect a third yellow card, they will skip the return encounter on Matchday 4. Five other players will have to be similarly cautious in their contests, namely Frank Baumann (Werder Bremen), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF), Bruno Cirillo (AEK Athens FC), Bart Goor (RSC Anderlecht) and Yohan Cabaye (LOSC Lille Métropole).