The days of punting solely on full-time results and goals in your football betting are over.
All of the leading bookmakers now offer dozens of granular markets to explore, with player props – and cards – growing in popularity.
Feisty games lend themselves to plenty of tackles, fouls and, thus, cards, while individual match-ups – a fleet-footed winger up against a tackle-happy full back, for example, are also common targets.
One Betfair punter put together a cards four-fold of their own on Tuesday, targeting the selection of Champions League fixtures being played.
And they got their quartet of selections bang on… although they needed some late drama to get their 176/1 coupon over the line.
Ultimately, Archie Gray’s late entanglement with Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Ryerson was enough to get their fourth and final pick over the line – trousering £1,764 thanks to Gray’s late show of frustration.
Merino Mayhem
Mikel Arteta made a series of changes to his regular Arsenal starting eleven for the trip to the San Siro to take on Inter Milan – a decision that could have come back to haunt him, given the Italians’ class.
But it turns out that the Spaniard got it just right, as Gabriel Jesus – deputising for normal starting striker Viktor Gyokeres – bagged a brace as he continues his comeback from a lengthy injury.
The likes of Gyokeres, Gabriel and Declan Rice were all benched until the second half, while Martin Odegaard’s services weren’t required at all – three points, courtesy of a 3-1 victory, and several key players rested was a double-win for Arteta.
One of his midfield selections was Mikel Merino, who certainly doesn’t mind getting stuck in whether playing in the middle of the pitch or as an emergency striker.
Eager to impress, the Spaniard was involved in much of the action – not least when he scythed down the marauding Inter Milan wing back Federico Dimarco to earn a 72nd minute booking.
That yellow means that Merino will be suspended for Arsenal’s next Champions League game after picking up three bookings in their UCL campaign so far – it was also the 29-year-old’s third caution in his last six games.
A savvy selection for cards punters, no doubt.
Of course, when we bet on cards, it’s not just yellows that get the job – a red card will also suffice.
When Copenhagen’s Thomas Delaney launched himself into a tackle with Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka in their Champions League clash on Tuesday, he was booked for a high boot.
Great: selection in, our punter must have thought. But there was to be a twist in the tale as VAR intervened, suggesting that referee Irfan Peljto should upgrade his original caution to a sending off following a video review.
35 – 🟥 Delaney sent off#KøbenhavnNapoli 0-0
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) January 20, 2026
Yellow, red… who cares? Either lands a cards bet, unless a specific colour is selected.
Credit to Copenhagen though, who hung in there against the Italians and struck a late equaliser through Jordan Larsson – a fine point for the ten-man Danes.
A Gray Day
It was a truly bizarre Tuesday night at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid and Monaco shared 45 shots on goal and a cumulative xG of 5.26.
It was a goal-laden contest then, as the stats suggest, but Real Madrid were by far the more clinical of the sides and ultimately romped to a 6-1 victory – Kylian Mbappe putting them 2-0 up inside 30 minutes against his old club.
Such an action-packed game wouldn’t be complete without a foul or two. And our punter would have celebrated like the Bernabeu faithful cheered their team’s goals as Monaco’s Dennis Zakaria produced a tackle that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the rugby pitch to halt a Franco Mastantuono counter-attack.
It was a grey day for Monaco then, and a Grey day for Tottenham’s Archie despite their 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Spurs boss Thomas Frank was perhaps drinking from the last chance saloon as pressure mounts on his future, but when Dortmund’s Daniel Svensson was sent off after just 24 minutes, his team’s assignment against the Germans became just that little bit easier.
Goals from Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke sandwiched Svensson’s dismissal, and Tottenham were on easy street.
So much so that as time ticked by, it looked increasingly unlikely that Spurs’ Archie Gray would pick up the booking that our punter so desired.
But then fortune played a hand…
Gray outmanoeuvred Julian Ryerson and laid off a pass, only for the Dortmund man – no doubt frustrated at how his side’s evening had panned out – to leave a late, thigh-high tackle on the Tottenham youngster.
So Gray first saw red – pushing Ryerson and giving him a mouthful – before then seeing yellow: the card brandished by referee Glenn Nyberg.
And so that was that: the 86th minute card to Gray securing a 174/1 winner for the Betfair customer, which in real terms meant a payout of £1,764.
Not bad for a humdrum Tuesday evening!