Eric Bailly was handed a three game suspension by UEFA after receiving a red card in the Europa League tie against Celta Vigo in May. He will miss the UEFA Super Cup and the first group stage match of the Champions League this season.
The Ivorian defender was involved in an incident with Facundo Roncaglia of Celta Vigo. Bailly was handed a red card after seeming to reach out on John Guidetti and Roncaglia. Bailly went on to miss the Europa League final against Ajax, which Manchester United eventually won 2-0.
Eric Bailly was one of Manchester United’s best players last season and it did not take long for him to assimilate into the Premier League. He will hope to continue his good form into this season, but the two games he will miss will definitely withhold him from getting good minutes early on in the season.
The defender only has two more games on his suspension because he did sit out in the Europa League final. These are the games against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and the first group game of the Champions League. United will find out their group stage opponents on August 24th. The draw will be in Monaco and the group stage matches start on September 12th.
Manchester are in Pot 2 of the draw and can’t be matched with the likes of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, or Porto. United also are not allowed to be in a group with teams from the Premier League. Although, United could come up against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, Monaco, Spartak Moscow, and Shakhtar Donetsk who are in Pot 1.
Manchester United will hope to have Bailly back as soon as possible in the Champions League as Jose Mourinho will want to be successful in the competition. United have not been in the Champions League since Louis Van Gaal’s final year where the team did not make it to the knockout stages.
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Eric Bailly will be a big miss for United and United fans will want him back on the field as soon as possible.