| A new
villain is emerging this season, although he is clever enough so far at least
to keep his name out of our chart. Last week Darío Silva enraged
Oviedo's keeper Esteban so much that he attacked him in the tunnel after the
match. This week the Uruguayan was involved in an incident with Valencia's
Angloma which resulted in the French fullback being sent off and banned for
three games. Darío Silva was booked himself and should have been
suspended for a game for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, but
his club appealed the card and it was cancelled. What happened? Darío
had been provoking Angloma throughout the game, and in a goalmouth incident
kicked high, catching the player in the face. Angloma slapped the striker on
the cheek, but it was a light tap which barely contacted. However after
hesitating for three or four seconds, Darío fell to the floor rolling
around in mock agony. Referee Andradas fell for it, and the Frenchman was off.
Angloma was one of three players to be sent off, with Mallorca's Armando
getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence (see our whitestick
section for more on that one), and Bilbao's Urzaiz also getting to the team
bath a few minutes before his colleagues. However, with the entire Athletic
forward line out for the next match the club appealed, and the second yellow
card was cancelled. Other than that, no less than seven players picked up their
fifth yellow card of the season and will miss a game, including two each from
Bilbao (Del Horno and Oscar Vales) and Oviedo (Danjou and Tomic), plus Olaizola
from Mallorca, Jaime from Racing and De los Santos from Málaga.
(18.12.00) |
