Oh dear Juanele, what have you done? His club twice defended his sending off last week after he flattened an Osasuna player (some confusion whether Armentano or Puñal), and on the second appeal the original two match ban was suspended. So on he goes to Las Palmas, the club where he played for many years (to jeers from the crowd), and lo and behold he gets himself sent off again after two bookable offences, one for a foul and one for diving. Zaragoza will appeal again, but he could get the book (and probably the bookshelf) thrown at him this time. He was not the only one to have to leave the field in that match either, his teammate Paco suffering the same fate minutes earlier. Curiously he too has a suspended sentence hanging over his head after he was given the 'cautelar' to enable him to play in the Spanish cup final at the end of last season.

All in all there were six red cards this week, including a couple of our regular villains from last season. Mallorca's Eto'o is a brilliant player with a bad temper, and he made a suggestion about the assistant referee's mother which the referee didn't like at all. Off he went just before half time. Valencia's Carboni was also politely asked to leave the field in the dying minutes of their match with Alavés, although it could have been anyone to go, with 12 yellow cards shown in the ninety minutes. Roteta was also unfortunate to see a second yellow in the last minute of Málaga's game against Bilbao, and Real Sociedad's captain Loren got himself a second booking just when they were coming back against Barcelona. (01.10.01)