Tottenham Hotspur will begin their 2-24/25 Europa League campaign with a match against Qarabag tonight but will have to do so without key defender Cristian Romero. This is because he is serving a retroactive ban, despite having never featured in the competition before.
The Argentine's importance to the team cannot be understated. After all, he has played every Premier League minute so far this season for Ange Postecoglou's side – scoring once and winning two of five games.
However, the player has an undoubted hot temper that can land him in trouble from time to time, with 28 yellows and four red cards during his 103-game career in north London so far.
One of those dismissals came in 2022/23, when Spurs were last in a European competition. As such, the 11th most expensive centre-back of all time must serve that ban now.
Why Romero Won't Play vs Qarabag
Serving European suspension
After finishing eighth in the Premier League two seasons ago, Tottenham did not have any European football on their schedule last term. They finished fifth most recently and have consequently returned to the Europa League for the first time since 2020/21.
They kick off the competition with a home visit from Azerbaijani outfit Qarabag. As mentioned before, vice-captain Romero will not be available for the clash in north London on Thursday 26 August.
This is because the 26-year-old was sent off during Spurs' last European outing, which saw the English team dumped out of the Champions League by AC Milan at the Round of 16 stage.
Tottenham, then managed by Antonio Conte, had lost the first leg 1-0 away at the San Siro. With the return fixture in the balance, Romero produced a wild lunge on Milan captain Theo Hernandez, resulting in a second yellow card.
GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: At the time of his red card vs AC Milan, Romero was averaging a card once every 2.5 games. To put that into context, the most carded player in La Liga and Champions League history, Sergio Ramos, was only averaging one every 2.9 outings.
The game finished 0-0 and Spurs were sent crashing out of the competition (losing 1-0 on aggregate) and have not played in Europe since. As they now return to the Europa League, Romero must serve out his one-match ban retroactively as suspensions are upheld across all UEFA-related competitions.
Romero's Poor Disipline
Was slammed at the time as a 'liability'
As a World Cup-winning defender, Romero's quality is there for all to see – also backed up by his links to Real Madrid – however his lack of discipline does let him down from time to time. At the time of his red card vs AC Milan, former Spurs man Jamie O'Hara slammed the player for his rash challenge, telling talkSPORT:
“He’s a liability though, he’s a liability. As much as we love him – he’s got passion, he’s got heart, I get that. But you look at the top defenders, they don’t look like they are going get sent off every week. Every time! He can’t tackle!”
Perhaps the 26-year-old is improved on that front, having not been carded in any of his 450 minutes of game time for Spurs this term. That said, he picked up seven yellow cards and one red last season, across 33 Premier League outings.
As a consequence of his past poor discipline, he'll have to sit out this match against Qarabag – which is certainly an oddity, having never played in the Europa League before.