What a difference a word makes! One of our favourite villains Darío Silva was sent off for apparently insulting a linesman's mother on Wednesday night, but was let off a one match ban (which would have been against his old club Málaga) as Sevilla were able to provide television video evidence that he had in fact insulted his own mother, using the word "mi" and not "tu". Darío's mother was unavailable to comment, nor was it possible to verify that she did in fact exercise the profession which the Uruguayan bad boy was referring to, but if true then that would explain why he is such a b*stard.

The Sevilla striker was one of four players sent off in the midweek round of games. Valladolid's Marcos was sent off later on in the same game, rather harshly some say (in compensation?), for bringing down Gallardo as he advanced on goal, and Espanyol's Oscar got so excited about scoring his side's winner that he got a second booking soon afterwards and had to leave the field of play. Real Madrid's Pavón was also given his marching orders after picking up a second booking in the match at Zaragoza. Three players reached the five yellow card threshold this week and will have to sit out next weekend's games, Puñal (Osasuna), Nafti (Racing) and Fernando Sales (Valladolid).

Pablo García will also be missing from Osasuna's side as he was given a two match ban for fighting in the tunnel with Real Sociedad's López Rekarte in last weekend's derby. Rekarte was also given a one match suspension, which he served out last Thursday. And Wome will be unavailable for Javier Clemente (if he ever wants to bring him back) as the disciplinary committee gave him a two match ban for his red card last Sunday, (31.10.03)