New Uefa Yellow Card Rule Makes it Harder for Players to Miss Champions League Final

Uefa has changed its rules on yellow cards giving players who play in a robust style like Xavi Alonso, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane a better chance of featuring in a Champions League final.

Bookings will now be wiped off after the quarter-final stages, making it more likely that players will be able to compete in Uefa's shopwpiece final.

Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso was forced to watch from the sidelines during Lisbon's final against Atlectico Madrid after picking up a third caution of the campaign during the semi-final against Bayern Munich.

The Spaniard endured the same fate as retired footballers Roy Keane and Paul Scholes did in 1999 after the Manchester United midfield pair picked up cautions in their semi-final against Juventus.

A statement from Uefa said: "Following a recommendation by the UEFA Club Competitions Committee - in order to implement in UEFA club competitions a rule which is already in force in the UEFA European Football Championship - the Emergency Panel decided that, as of this season, all yellow cards from the beginning of the group stage will expire on completion of the quarter-finals.

"Bookings will therefore not be carried forward to the semi-finals."

Keane was memorably booked for United in their semi-final clash against Juventus in Turin and wrote in his autobiography that he felt uncomfortable celebrating his side's 2-1 win over Bayern in the final.

Alonso missed his side's tenth European cup final success after lunging in on Bastian Schweinsteiger in Madrid's 4-0 semi-final second-leg win, again against Bayern.

Chelsea were also forced to juggle their starting XI for a Champions League final after Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles were all suspended from featuring against Jupp Heynckes' Bayern.

The German were also forced to cope without David Alaba, Holger Badstuber and Luis Gustavo because of the same rule, prompting calls for reform.