The Wrocław Red Card That Still Keeps Arnau Ortiz Out at Anfield

Anfield’s Champions League lights will shine on Atlético Madrid without Arnau Ortiz, whose place in Diego Simeone’s attacking plans has been erased by a chaotic night in Wrocław two years ago. The young winger is suspended for Wednesday’s 21:00 league-phase opener against Liverpool. Simeone’s awkward attacking puzzle also includes a much more familiar problem: Alexander Sørloth’s unresolved muscle injury.

Ortiz holds a first-team squad number, but he will watch from outside one of European football’s great stadiums. His absence was settled long before Atlético’s Tuesday journey to Liverpool. The sanction dates from August 2024, when he was playing for Polish club Śląsk Wrocław.

The paperwork that traveled from Poland to Madrid contains a bizarre story. St Gallen advanced after scoring a late goal, completing a turnaround in a second leg that had seen Śląsk Wrocław lead 3-1 in extra time after losing the first match 2-0 in Switzerland. Ortiz had only just entered the game when the situation unraveled.

He was sent off within minutes. One yellow card came for simulation and the second followed after he protested the decision. Two other Śląsk Wrocław players had already been dismissed, leaving the extra-time tie surrounded by red cards before St Gallen found the goal that sent them through.

Article 51.01 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations provides the administrative explanation. Suspensions from UEFA club competitions carry into the next season and can also be served in another club competition when they could not be completed in the tournament where they were incurred. Ortiz’s ban therefore survived the move from the Conference League to the Champions League and remained attached to him after his return from loan to Atlético.

Monday’s training session offered no miracles. Sørloth is still recovering from the muscular contracture he suffered in the week before the season officially began, and he has not trained with the group since. He has not played a single minute this campaign. His condition remains under assessment, while Ortiz’s absence has already been fixed by the suspension rather than by a fitness decision.

Simeone was still planning around the attacking vacancy before the medical picture was resolved. The €75 million summer signing Julián Alvarez and French veteran Antoine Griezmann are expected to carry the starting strike partnership at Anfield. Ángel Correa is prepared to make an impact from the bench.

Atlético travel to Liverpool on Tuesday for the Wednesday night opener, with the uncertainty around Sørloth and the administrative certainty around Ortiz shaping the available options for Simeone’s forward line.