It's all over! Despite not playing the last game against Real Madrid due to a calf strain, Diego Tristán takes the Pichichi prize both in the Spanish league (21 goals) and in all club competitions (32). Tristán is the second Deportivo player to top the table following Bebeto's success in the 1992/3 season. Last year's league Pichichi Raúl finished second in the overall table, although he dried up in the league towards the end of the season and ended up well down the table. He more than made up for it in Europe though, scoring the opening goal in the Champions Leage final to give Real Madrid their ninth European cup title.

Morientes and Kluivert finished runners up in the league with 18 a piece, with Catanha, Saviola and Tamudo one behind them on 17 and Urzaiz on 16. Luque scored one of the most important goals of his young career on the last day to keep Mallorca in the first division, and it earned him a surprise place in Spain's World cup squad. Last year's overall winner Rivaldo had a disappointing season, missing over half of Barcelona's games through injury or international call ups for Brazil. He still managed to net 14 in all games though.

Just for the record, some 1,186 goals were scored by first division sides in all competitions, 233 less than last season. This was due in part to the early elimination of Spanish clubs in the UEFA cup, but totals were down in the league too, with keepers picking the ball out of the net 961 times in 380 games as against 1,095 last season. See the weekly reports below for more details.

Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38

Villarreal's Quique Alvarez wins our top villains prize this year, just pipping Celta's Luccin and Pablo of Alavés. Pablo is there rather than his team mate Téllez, winner of the prize the last two seasons, thanks in part to a blind referee who sent off the wrong man a couple of weeks before the end of the season. Bad luck there mate! On the red card front, both Darío Silva (Málaga) and Angel (Las Palmas) got sent off three times, and Mostovoi (Celta) and Javi Navarro (Sevilla) both missed a record six games through suspension.

However with the season already finished Zaragoza's Toro Acuña and Lainez both received seven match bans in the shameful scenes after their next to last match, and subject to appeal will have to serve out the suspensions when teams return at the start of September. Six other players will miss the first match of the new year after reaching the yellow card threshold, including Llorens (Alavés) with fifteen cards, Rochemback (Barcelona), Fernando Sanz (Málaga) and Alfaro (Sevilla) with ten and Cuartero (Zaragoza) with five.

Over the whole season there were 130 red cards, including nine in the Spanish cup, impressive but still 27 down on last year. Some 398 "man matches" were lost through suspensions, an average of over one a game. On a club basis, Celta were the worst offenders with 182 "points" including eleven red cards, followed by Sevilla on 176 and Málaga 172. Spain's "fair-play" contenders for a place in the UEFA cup were Real Sociedad (109 points in our table), although they missed out on the lucky draw.

Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38

Valencia's Santiago Cañizares won the Zamora prize for the second year in a row without playing in a minute in the last match. Cañi had apparently had a couple of sleepless nights as his wife had given birth to another child, and Palop took his place for the game against Betis. His replacement did well though, saving a late penalty from Casas as his team won 2-0 in a night of celebration. As those following the World cup will know, Spain's first choice keeper was due to go to Korea/Japan but cut his toe open when trying to stop a bottle of Cologne from falling on the floor, and missed the entire competition.

Second placed keeper Toni Prats also missed the last two matches including the one at Valencia as he had still not recovered from his back pains. That meant he missed out on an ever present record, leaving Ricardo (Valladolid) and López Vallejo (Villarreal) as the only two players who played every minute of every league match during the season. Casillas lost his place at Real Madrid to César towards the end of the season but still got a call up for the World cup squad, as did Barcelona and Argentina's Bonano who lost out to under 21 keeper Reina midway through the season but won his place back towards the end.

Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38

After an exciting season Pérez Burrull won our annual white stick, just pipping Megia Dávila by three cards. The four new referees finished in the next four places, and greater things are surely to come from all of them in future seasons. No news as yet on who will be carrying on and who will be leaving, except that we understand López Nieto will be hanging up his whistle once he comes back from the World Cup. Hopefully there will be no egg on his face when he steps off the plane.

Our men in black managed some 2,189 yellow cards and 121 reds (including 42 direct) in the league matches, which works out at over 6 cards a game. Every week. 38 weeks in a year. The disciplinary committee overruled 31 yellows and 12 reds during the season, with the worst offenders (5 cards each), you guessed it, Pérez Burrull and López Nieto. Who says you learn more as you get older?

For those wanting a good read (fact is sometimes stranger than fiction) we can recommend our weekly white stick reports (see links below). Its all about the real entertainers in Spanish football. Forget the players, just keep your eyes on the 'arbitros'.

Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38