Which Irish players are on a yellow card will be a question you'll be fretting about during Saturday's first leg in Copenhagen. Despite the fact that teams have navigated ten arduous games thus far, the infinite wisdom at UEFA has dictated that the rule pertaining to players carrying yellow cards remains in force.
Martin O'Neill has complained about this frequently in the build-up to the playoffs. When asked if the second leg being at home in Dublin constituted an advantage, O'Neill sounded caution given the "number of yellow cards flying around", meaning the loss of players between the legs is an "inevitability". The rule affects Denmark, too, with O'Neill admitting at his Monday briefing that "if you were to ask both countries, I think they would accept an armistice and scrap the yellow cards".
David Meyler is already suspended for the first leg, and here are the Irish players in danger of being suspended for the second leg, should they pick up a yellow card in Copenhagen.
Which Irish players are on a yellow card?
Ireland have no less than eleven players carrying yellows into the first leg. Those players are:
Darren Randolph, Ciaran Clark, James McClean, Daryl Murphy, Harry Arter, Shane Long, Cyrus Christie, Aiden McGeady, Shane Duffy, Stephen Ward, and Glenn Whelan. Jon Walters and Seamus Coleman also carry yellows, but won't be involved in the playoffs owing to injury.
Given that Glenn Whelan may be pressed into a start owing to David Meyler's suspension and an injury to James McCarthy, it's possible that virtually all the starting team in Copenhagen will have potential suspension looming over them.
And Denmark?
Denmark have their own issues, too. Among their frontline players in danger of missing the second leg are Christian Eriksen, centre-half Simon Kjaer, midfielder Thomas Delaney, and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
