Suspensions hamper Turkey and Russia

Turkey and Russia will be missing key men through suspension for their respective semi-finals against Germany and Spain after the lineup for the last four was completed on Sunday night.

Two out
None of the three Spain players already on a booking – Álvaro Arbeloa, Daniel Güiza or Carlos Marchena – picked up another yellow card in the shoot-out win against Italy at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, meaning coach Luis Aragonés will have a full complement of players to choose from for Thursday's return to the Austrian capital. Not so his Russia counterpart Guus Hiddink, who will be without defender Denis Kolodin and attacking midfielder Dmitri Torbinski after both were cautioned in Saturday's 3-1 defeat of the Netherlands.

Turkey concern
Aside from a rib injury to Torsten Frings, Germany's Joachim Löw has no concerns as he looks forward to Wednesday's showdown with a Turkey side unable to call on four players in Basel. No1 goalkeeper Volkan Demirel is serving the second part of a two-match ban following his dismissal against the Czech Republic, while Emre Aşık, Arda Turan and Tuncay Şanlı all sit out the game after being booked in the quarter-final against Croatia having been yellow-carded previously.

'Very good decision'
The UEFA Executive Committee decided at its meeting in Moscow last month to cancel single yellow cards at the end of the quarter-finals, rather than after the group stage. Consequently, a situation will not arise whereby players receive a second yellow card of the tournament in the semi-finals and are suspended for the final as a result. UEFA President Michel Platini said at the time: "It's a very good decision for lovers of football and TV spectators, who will be able to see the best players taking part in the final – as long as they are not sent off in the semi-final."