Five red cards again this weekend, including one for Javi Navarro, who takes over the mantle from his colleague Pablo Alfaro at the top of our chart. The two centre backs have a reputation as hard men, and Navarro proved it once again with a flying elbow on an opponent which started another bust up between Sevilla and Osasuna. Regular readers will remember the riot between the two sides in the last match of last season which ended with Alfaro and three Osasuna players Morales, Bakayoko and Alfredo all getting long bans. This time though things died down quickly and there were no major incidents of note (if you ignore the 51 free kicks which were given away in the match!).

Real Sociedad's Valeri Karpin also got his marching orders when he picked up a second booking in the game at Deportivo. At first we all thought it was for time wasting, but the referee's report stated that he had been booked for ironically applauding the home crowd, who had been baiting him throughout the match (Karpin used to play for rivals Celta). The appeal committee cancelled the booking though, so he will be able to play next weekend. Getafe's Craioveanu was also sent off, this time for tackle from behind on Deco as he advanced on goal, and the other two red cards were for Villarreal manager Pellegrini for protesting, and a member of Real Sociedad's technical staff, Carlos Larburu, for the same reason.

Five players will miss the next round of games after picking up their fifth bookings, including Munitis (Deportivo), Josetxo (Osasuna), Alkiza (Real Sociedad) and Guti and Figo (Real Madrid). The case of these last two is worthy of note, both clearly provoking a yellow card as they will in any case be rested next weekend prior to the important Champions League game at Roma a few days later. After all the hoo-ha after Beckham did the same thing a few weeks ago, this surprisingly passed by with little mention.

And finally Gurpegui's appeal against a two year ban for a positive drugs test was turned down by the Spanish court this week. Athletic Bilbao will appeal to the supreme court though, and will probably gain a few more months as a result. There is a possibility that re-elected football federation president Angel Villa will give the player a pardon (something that newly elected presidents tend to do), but that may not be legally acceptable under these circumstances. Talking of which, he could do the same for the eternally postponed two match ground closure on Barcelona for the famous Figo incident two years ago, which the Catalans have been doing everything they can to resist. That too may not be very popular with other clubs who have had to close their grounds for similar incidents. (30.11.04)