A bad weekend for the villains, with eight red cards being shown in the ten league matches. Four of them though were for Sevilla, including one each for two members of the technical staff after they had to be held back by security men following a slanging match with members of the Bilbao crowd. Fredi and David were both sent off for fouls on Javi González (Fredi's red card was later cancelled by the disciplinary committee), and Sevilla manager Joaquín Caparrós didn't mince his words after the game, basically hinting that the Athletic full back should be an automatic choice for the Olympic diving team.

Some famous names in the referees' black books this weekend, starting with Figo who was shown a direct red card for a tackle from behind on Osasuna's Puñal. Mallorca's Lozano was also sent off for trying out the Eric Cantona Kung Fu kick on Fernado Torres, and an original two match ban was reduced to one on appeal. No respite though for Rayo's Quevedo, who got a one match ban after being booked twice against Racing and two more games' suspension for insulting the referee, the linesmen, the ball boys and every member of the crowd one by one, or so it appeared in the referee's report. Real Sociedad's Jauregi is also to miss one game after being shown two yellow cards against Betis.

The new disciplinary committee was in action this week, and they started by handing out a ban to Athletic's young midfielder Gurpegui, who had tested positive for Nandrolone two or three weeks ago. Gurpegui and the club's lawyers appeal was turned down, and it appears he will not be allowed to play until a final sentence is passed once all tests and counter tests are made. Real Sociedad's Javier De Pedro also got a two match ban for stamping on, guess who, Bilbao's Javi González also a couple of weeks ago. He does get around, doesn't he?

On the other hand, Celta's Catanha seems to have got away with an attack on Recreativo's Pernia in the players' tunnel after the game. The Andalucians new signing was taken to hospital with a black eye, which he claims came from a punch from the Hispano -Brazilian. The referee reported the fact at the insistence of the Recre representative, but said that personally he didn't see anything.

One match bans were dished out for the following players for accumulation of yellow cards: Albertini and Correa (Atlético), Ito (Betis), Lopo /Espanyol), Cortés and Lussenhoff (Mallorca) and finally Nafti (Racing), who has completed the second cycle of five cards. (20.02.03)