A much more villainous weekend this one, with no less than seven red cards over the nine matches played, a record for the season. Referees were taking them out in pairs, with Josemi and Fernando Sanz both being sent off for second bookable offences at Málaga (Sanz for the second time this season), and Motta and Overmars at Barcelona. Motta in fact got a straight red for what was at first reported as "making comments in Brazilian" but was included in the referee's report as a request to him to indulge in a highly unusual sex act. Overmars got his second yellow for pulling faces at the referee in protest at his first yellow card. Doesn't he know that Overmars always looks like that?

For the first time that we can remember, a manager makes it into our chart this week. Rayo's Fernando Vázquez was booked for the fifth time this season for protesting, and soon afterwards was given a straight red for "waving his arms around and protesting in a loud voice", obviously a much more serious offence than just protesting. The manager was given a one match suspension for accumulation of cards and two more for the red card, but the way things are going at Rayo (an eventual replacement has already been contacted), he may not be around long enough to serve out the ban.

Another player in trouble for opening his mouth was Mallorca's Ibagaza. He got a straight red for muttering under his breath that he would perform a lavatorial act on the whore of a mother of who knows who. Standing next to the player, the referee took this to be about his own sweet mum and immediately pulled out the red. Ibagaza apologised after the game though, saying he didn't say what he thought he said and anyway it was about somebody else's mother, and the disciplinary committee downgraded it to a yellow card.

The other red card of the day was for Villarreal's Sousa, who picked up two bookings in the second half of the game against Celta. Two players will miss next weekend's games after picking up their fifth yellow cards of the season, Real Sociedad's Xabi Alonso and Alavés defender Oscar Téllez, winner of two previous villains awards. Finally the decision whether to close Barcelona's Nou Camp after last weekend's scenes has been postponed another week pending appeal. The disciplinary committee considers the infraction to be "serious", which means they could close the stadium between one and three games. (04.12.02)