Incredibly there were no red cards shown on the opening day of the league programme, which must be something of a record. However we already have one sending off in official domestic competitions this season, Valencia's Ayala getting his marching orders early in the second leg of the Super Cup. The Argentina captain was caught elbowing Deportivo's Roy Makaay in the face, and had exclusive use of the showers for over 80 minutes. Depor's Mauro Silva picked up a yellow card in each leg and got another in the opening league match to lead the card table.

Other than that, our table is largely made up of suspensions dating back to last season, with several players missing the opening games as a result. Toro Acuña has to sit out five games for his new club Deportivo, starting with both legs of the super cup, and his ex team mate at Zaragoza Milosevic also missed the opening game for Espanyol from a ban dating back to the same game. Summer meetings of the disciplinary committee confirmed the suspended two match sentences for Romero (Málaga) and Catanha (Celta), and a one match ban for Mallorca's Eto'o.

Some fun and games in the Intertoto cup as well, with Spain's two participants Málaga and Villarreal ending their final with a brawl after Palermo laid in to Josemi and the defender retaliated. Both men were sent off, as was Villarreal's Aranda for a second bookable offence. However as our habitual readers will know, that doesn't count for our chart, which is only based on domestic games. (03.09.02)