Weeks remain for Xabi Alonso take over Real Madrid With views of the FIFA Club World Cup, one more step in the extraordinary career of the Donostiarra both as a player and coach and where, in addition, as a footballer he can 'show off' of having changed a historical and unfair norm for soccer players.
It was in the 2013-2014 season and in the Champions League. In the Tour of Semifinals against Bayern Munich El Tolosarra he saw a yellow card that meant completing a cycle. Immediate consequence: Xabi Alonso lost the Lisbon final in the derby against Atlético de Madrid. A final that the future Madrid coach had to do from the stands, from where he celebrated Gareth Bale's goal in the extension, which then supposed 2-1 for whites. Goal that came after Sergio Ramos's historic goal in the 93rd minute and that forced the extension. Then they would arrive the third and fourth of Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo, of penalty.
It was then that UEFA changed the card standard, which is in force since the 2014-2015 season. Standard according to which, already differentiated from then on, players pass free to the quarterfinals. That is, from the semifinals a new cycle of three cards begins, so that a player can lose a final of any of the UEFA competitions if he sees two yellow cards in the semifinal return or the direct red.
Read too
In any case, never just by seeing an warning in the semifinal return you can miss the grand final. This standard also applies FIFA. Until then a total of twenty players had lost a final for this rule that has just turned ten years of history.
