David Beckham complained about Spanish refereeing in the local press after his first red card since joining Real Madrid. Becks got his marching orders in the cup tie against Valencia for two rigorous yellow cards which, he protested, would never have been shown in the English league, the first for arguing and the second for a technical foul. Referee Medina Cantalejo showed eight yellow cards, including two as well to Valencia's Albelda, and there would have been one more for Marchena if Beckham had not pleaded with Medina not to book his opponent after a hard tackle, an act which was met with incredulity in a country where it is a national sport to try and trick the referee into penalize opponents. Sevilla's Javi Navarro also saw red in his side's cup tie with Atlético, also for a second booking,

Four red cards at the weekend, including one for an old villain, Valencia's Carboni. The veteran left back was shown a straight red for stamping on Osasuna's Pablo García, and will serve out a one match ban. A direct red too for Espanyol's new signing from Liverpool, Gregory Vignal, who was given his marching orders for a clumsy tackle on Fernando in what would have been his first full game for his side. The Catalans have picked up a record 15 red cards this season. Elsewhere Sevilla's Martí and Celta's Berizzo were both sent off for second bookable offences as their respective sides fell to home defeats.

Eleven players were given a one match suspension by Tuesday's disciplinary committee for accumulation of yellow cards, including Atlético's Sergi who picked up his tenth of the season. Spain's two brightest young stars Fernando Torres and Reyes were amongst the group on five cards, although the appeal committee let both of them off, the former pending further investigation and the latter at the request of Arsenal following his midweek transfer. There were some interesting names amongst the rest as well, including Ronaldinho and Reiziger from Barcelona, three from Espanyol (Tamudo, Alex Fernández and our leading villain Lopo), a former "villains" prizewinner, Celta's Luccin (who was let off a red card by the disciplinary committe only last week), plus Raúl Bravo (Real Madrid) and Loeschbor (Real Murcia), (27.01.04)