No doubt over who is the villain of the week, at least in the eyes of the Spanish press. Peña's crunching tackle on Deportivo's Valerón had everyone up in arms, especially when news came out that the Spanish international midfielder had been diagnosed with a broken leg and will be out for the next two months. The Bolivian defender was just returning from a one match ban after being sent off in the cup, and had only been on the park three minutes when the incident occurred.

Peña does not have a reputation for being a very dirty player though, and one wonders whether the outcry would have been so strong if it had not been a national hero on the receiving end. The referee only considered the tackle worthy of a yellow card, and in those cases the disciplinary committee normally does not take further action.

Talking of the committee, they came in for their fair share of stick for not pursuing the flying elbows of Alfaro, Ballesteros and Dely Valdés last week. Eto'o was particularly critical, not a good move if you are already serving a five match ban for head-butting an opponent, and he could see his suspension extended. The committee did decide to overturn yellow cards for Atlético's Fernando Torres and Contra for diving in the penalty area though, which meant that Torres could play at the weekend.

Referees continued in their softer line at the weekend, with a much lower card total than last season. There were 46 yellows and two reds, including Sevilla's Marcos Vales, who was sent off for an aggressive tackle only twenty minutes after coming on as substitute. Racing's keeper Lemmens was unfortunate to pick up two yellows in one incident, getting the first for questioning the validity of a penalty decision and the second for thumping the ball away in disgust after Julio Alvarez scored the retaken kick. If there is any justice in this world (which there normally isn't), he should get a reprieve. (24.09.02)