{"id":77565,"date":"2026-08-29T13:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/77565\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T13:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:17:07","slug":"key-barcelona-defender-set-to-miss-champions-league-opener-vs-feyenoord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/77565\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Barcelona defender set to miss Champions League opener vs Feyenoord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The draw for the league phase of the 2026\/27 UEFA Champions League took place earlier this week, with <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/official-barcelonas-eight-opponents-for-the-league-phase-of-the-2026-27-champions-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">FC Barcelona learning their eight opponents<\/a> for the first round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier today, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/confirmed-barcelona-fixture-schedule-for-the-2026-27-uefa-champions-league-first-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the schedule for the league phase of the competition was officially announced<\/a>, with the Blaugrana kicking off their European campaign with a home game against Feyenoord.<\/p>\n<p>No Eric Garcia vs Feyenoord<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the La Liga champions will have to go into the clash with a key defender unavailable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mundodeportivo.com\/futbol\/fc-barcelona\/20260829\/1004220895\/eric-garcia-no-jugara-sancion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mundo Deportivo<\/a>, Eric Garcia will miss Barcelona\u2019s Champions League opener against Feyenoord on Wednesday, September 9, at the Spotify Camp Nou. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Article 63.01 of the UEFA regulations for the 2026\/27 Champions League, any player sent off must serve a one-match suspension in the next European competition match for which he is eligible.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fc-barcelona-v-athletic-club-laliga-ea-sports-2026-27-4-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Eric Garcia of Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-210991\"  \/>Eric Garcia will miss Barcelona\u2019s UCL opener. (Photo by Alex Caparros\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia received a straight red card in the second leg of last season\u2019s Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano, which Barcelona won 2-1, but the Catalans were eliminated on aggregate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result, Hansi Flick will be without the defender for the opening European fixture of the new campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The absence could be particularly significant given Garcia\u2019s importance at right-back, with the World Cup winner now becoming the first-choice starter in the position. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jules Kounde and Xavi Espart are the two main alternatives available to Flick in that position.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"715\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fc-barcelona-v-athletic-club-laliga-ea-sports-2026-27-5-1-1024x715.jpg\" alt=\"Eric Garcia of Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-210990\"  \/>Eric is Barcelona\u2019s first-choice right-back. (Photo by Alex Caparros\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Changes to the yellow-card system<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UEFA has also introduced a change to the disciplinary system this season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first yellow-card cycle now runs to four bookings rather than three, meaning a player will receive a one-match suspension after accumulating four yellow cards from the start of the league phase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, the cycles become shorter. Suspensions will follow every two additional yellow cards, meaning after the sixth, eighth, tenth booking and so on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As has been the case in recent seasons, yellow cards are wiped after the Champions League quarter-finals, so they do not carry over into the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is one important exception. If a player receives the yellow card in the second leg of the quarter-finals that completes a suspension cycle, he will still miss the first leg of the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Barcelona, however, the immediate issue is clear: Garcia will have to watch the Feyenoord match from the stands as he serves the suspension carried over from last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The draw for the league phase of the 2026\/27 UEFA Champions League took place earlier this week, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,927,223,29184,1236],"class_list":["post-77565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-eric-garcia","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-feyenoord","tag-uefa-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}