Another relatively quite week for our villains, with only three red cards again in the first division. One of those was for Barcelona's assistant coach, we was given a straight red card for 'gravely insulting' referee González Vázquez. What he said will come to light when the disciplinary committee meet later this week, but it must have been bad as the papers are talking of a four match ban this time. Alexanco is picking up more cards as a manager than when he was a player, and that is saying something for those who remember the central defender's crunching tackles. His bark is obviously worse than his bite. Bilbao's Lacruz was sent off in the same match when he got a second yellow card for a tackle on Rivaldo, the second time he has failed to finish a match for disciplinary reasons this season. However television cameras picked up a punch by Rivaldo to the defender's head on the blind side of the referee before Lacruz retaliated, and Bilbao will be submitting that as evidence in their appeal. If upheld, Rivaldo could be missing a few more games for Barcelona this season.

The third red was to Valladolid's Torres Gómez, who also picked up two cautions in the game against Sevilla. Only three players reached the five card threshold this week, including Fernando Sanz, who had only just returned from a one match ban, plus Podestá from Sevilla and Belenguer from Betis. We cannot close though without a mention for Oviedo's Russian international Onopko, who was sent off for the third time this season in the second division for a kung-fu style high kick on the back of Elche's Moha. Rambo eat your heart out! (26.11.01)