Italy's four players with a yellow card must hang on until the quarter-finals, when their card record will be cleared.
Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Eder and Thiago Motta were all booked in the 2-0 win over Belgium, and another card would force them to skip the two following games.
The Gazzetta dello Sport ran a short report on the Euro 2016 rules regarding yellow cards and suspensions, as they work a bit differently than in the championships.
Italy's four players with a yellow card must hang on until the quarter-finals, when their card record will be cleared.
Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Eder and Thiago Motta were all booked in the 2-0 win over Belgium, and another card would force them to skip the two following games.
The Gazzetta dello Sport ran a short report on the Euro 2016 rules regarding yellow cards and suspensions, as they work a bit differently than in the championships.
The two-game ban is meant to discourage players from deliberately getting booked a second time so as to skip a non-crucial game. For instance the Azzurri might prefer to get a second yellow against Sweden and skip the game against Ireland, rather than risk getting a yellow against the Irish and skipping the Round of 16. Now this is no longer an option.
An important detail is that a player's booking only lasts until the quarter-finals, after which their records are cleared. This means that a player that has already been booked in the tournament won't have to skip the semi-finals if he gets booked again in the quarter-finals.
Likewise, no player can be suspended for the final unless he should get a direct red card.