Tottenham and Bodo/Glimt stars suspended for Europa League clash as UEFA rules explained

Bodo/Glimt could be at a huge disadvantage for their Europa League semi-final first leg against Tottenham due to UEFA's suspension rules.

The Norwegian champions pulled off a huge upset in the previous round as they beat Serie A side, and league phase winners, Lazio in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. On the edge of the Arctic Circle, Bodo won the first leg 2-0 but Lazio repeated that score line on home soil which forced extra-time.

Both teams were on target in the 30 minutes that followed with goals from Boulaye Dia and Andreas Helmersen taking the quarter-final to spot-kicks and a miss from Lazio's Valentin Castellanos ultimately proved decisive.

In Germany meanwhile, Tottenham put in an extremely disciplined performance to beat Eintracht Frankfurt. Heading into a hopeful semi-final first leg, which Bodo do have a fixture advantage for, a total of 10 players from Spurs and Bodo/Glimt could have missed out through suspension, but only three will actually be absent.

All of those absentees are from Bodo/Glimt with captain Patrick Berg, Hakon Evjen and Helmersen all suspended. The latter was sent off against Lazio while the other two picked up their third yellow cards of the competition.

Yves Bissouma, Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski were all at risk of being banned but none of the trio were cautioned. Fredrik Bjorkan, Jostein Gundersen, Fredrik Sjovold and Isak Matta were the Bodo quartet that avoided bookings and thus cannot be suspended going forward unless they are sent off, as explained by UEFA.

"Exceptionally, all yellow cards and pending yellow-card suspensions expire on completion of the play-offs," it is stated in Article 52.04 of their handbook. "They are not carried forward to the group stage. In addition, all yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals. They are not carried forward to the semi-finals."

Rodrigo Bentancur and Cristian Romero were shown yellows in Spurs' second leg win but that was the latter's first of the campaign while Bentancur has already served a suspension in Europe and as it was his fourth, it does not result in a one-match ban.

Looking ahead to that first clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the good news is that the players previously at risk can no longer miss a game through suspension, unless sent off as bookings are wiped out. UEFA rules also state a player cannot be banned for the final even if they are cautioned in both semi-final legs.