Andre Onana will not miss Manchester United’s FA Cup final with Manchester City as the ban on yellow cards ends in the quarter-final.
The United goalkeeper was shown a yellow card on Sunday for wasting time in regular time against Coventry and during the penalty shoot-out.
Normally two yellow cards equal red and a player is sent off, but bookings from regular playing time are not carried over to the shoot-out, meaning Onana was spared a nightmare.
It also means that he will play in the final on May 25, because the only way to get a suspension for that is via a red card, and not via the collected yellow cards.
However, Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will miss the first leg of Villa’s Europa Conference League semi-final for the same offences.
Andre Onana will not miss Manchester United’s FA Cup final despite two yellow cards against Coventry
However, UEFA ruled that Emiliano Martinez will miss Aston Villa’s next Europa Conference League match
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Martinez was due to miss time in the last eight games against Lille and again in the penalty shoot-out, where he made the decisive save from Benjamin Andre.
Villa always believed Martinez would be banned, but UEFA itself was less clear.
The governing body’s rule stipulates that yellow cards collected during the competition will be removed from the players’ record after the quarter-finals.
But even though Martinez was not sent off in the shoot-out, he was still shown a yellow card twice that evening.
After hours of deliberation, UEFA decided to suspend Martinez after he racked up three bookings throughout the match against Lille.
Martinez said after the match on Thursday: ‘It’s all about reputation because the other goalkeeper did exactly the same thing [time wasting in normal play].
‘I got booked after half an hour and we were losing the match, so I don’t know what the referee wants from me.
‘Then there was no ball on the penalty spot during the shoot out. I asked for a ball from the ball boy and I get a yellow card. I just don’t understand the rules.’
Looking at Martinez, you suspect that Onana will feel a little lucky, even if his availability for the final is completely legal according to the rules of the game.
In fact, it is quite a coincidence for United that they have reached the big stage for the second year in a row.
They were 3-0 up against Coventry, but threw that away when the Championship side staged a spectacular comeback in the last twenty minutes.
Extra time saw Coventry beg for numerous chances and a final goal was disallowed as Haji Wright was marginally offside as decided by VAR.
United went on to win the shoot-out 4-2 to book their meeting against Manchester City, who defeated them 2-1 at the final hurdle in 2023.
It will be the first time since 1885 that two teams have played in the FA Cup final in consecutive years.