Er well, there were nine red cards this weekend, something of a record. One was for Athletic Bilbao's Del Horno for a second bookable offence, one was for the Málaga delegate (see white stick section for details) and seven? Well actually they all came in one game, the fated derby between Espanyol and Barcelona. Referee Pino Zamorano got his name into the record books with his performance, which started with the sending off of De la Peña for a foul on Reiziger just before half time. Pino reported that the ex Barça and Lazio midfielder had stuck his fingers in his abdomen in his anger, "causing him a light pain which diminished as the game wore on". That cost De la Peña a three match ban, although he denied there was any contact and the club will appeal.

Most of the action came in the second half though, with Márquez and Quaresma getting their marching orders for second bookable offences in the first five minutes of the second half, and numbers getting evened up when Soldevilla got his second yellow card of the night after a clash with Gerard. Barça went down 3-2 after Cocu was shown a straight red for a rugby tackle on Tamudo, but Lopo levelled at 3-3 after he won himself a fourth red card of the season with a second booking near the end, Espanyol's thirteenth of the season to date. After the match though we learned that Pino had slipped in a seventh red card, this for goalkeeping coach Tommy N'Kono for using a rude word in the tunnel at half time. Will this record ever be beaten?

The disciplinary committee didn't let anyone off though in their hearing, and all six got bans. There were also another eight players who reached the five yellow card mark and who can start their Christmas holidays early. That includes such famous villains as Simeone (Atlético), Javi Navarro (Sevilla) and Carboni (Valencia), as well as Duda and Josemi (Málaga), Poli (Mallorca), Kvarme (Real Sociedad), and Belletti and Pedro Martí (Villarreal). Mallorca's Lussenhoff was let off his fifth yellow card and will be able to play. The committee also docked a point from Racing Santander for fielding four non-EU players for a couple of minutes against Osasuna, and banned manager Lucas Alcaraz for a month. Contrary to expectations though, Osasuna were not awarded the three points and will have to make do with one (subject to appeal). (16.12.03)