With European competitions taking a break the Spanish cup is filling the gap, and there was another round of matches midweek. This time though the villains were in the dugout rather than the field of play, with two of the three red cards going to managers Bernd Schuster (Xerez) and Lucas Alcaraz (Recreativo), both after picking up two yellows for protesting. The third red went to Murcia forward Acciari in the victory over Alavés, also for a second booking.

Another three red cards at the weekend, curiously all going to current Spanish internationals. The first was at Barcelona, where Cañizares mixed up his sports and attempted a lift and jerk on Patrick Kluivert. It was an unfortunate return for him after a six week layoff with a knee injury, even though his side won in the end. Maybe he thought he was still in the gym? The best was saved for last though, with two players getting their marching orders in the Madrid derby at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

The first to go was Iván Helguera, who took objections to the way Javi Moreno celebrated his penalty goal and took him out in a major way from behind. As the Real Madrid defender pushed referee Daudén Ibáñez in the chest afterwards, the disciplinary committee gave him a yellow card to go on top of the red, which being the fifth of the current cycle means he will get a two match ban. As it happens that will be fairly meaningless, as the first will be served out in the cup quarter final, where he wasn't going to play anyway. Later in the game numbers were evened up when García Calvo picked up a second booking. His manager was probably grateful, as he had already missed a tackle leading to the first goal and then given away a penalty for the second.

The disciplinary committee were busy again last week, and they decided to give Sevilla's Pablo Alfaro a four match ban (later reduced to three) for stamping on Real Madrid's Michel Salgado. Alfaro took it well and admitted his crime, but Sevilla management did point out that Zidane had done the same thing to Emerson at the weekend and got off scot free. They also decided to investigate a report on Valencia television into possible corruption in the game. Several players reached the five card barrier and were suspended from next week's games, including two of our leading lights Varela (his tenth yellow of the season, and Unai (his fifth, not counting sendings off). Also banned will be Ibon Begoña (Alavés), Hibic (Atlético), Motta (Barcelona), Gerardo (Málaga) and Bermejo (Recreativo). (21.01.03)