A relatively quiet round of matches in the cup midweek, with only four red cards in the second leg ties from the third round. Two were for men from Sevilla, Martí picking up a second booking near the end of the match against Recreativo and the team physio also getting sent off the bench for protesting. And the other two were for second division B players, Gramanet's Xavi Gracia also for a second yellow card late on against Lleida, and Lorca's Pomar being shown a straight red against Atlético.

Five players sent off at the weekend, including one rather harsh red card for Espanyol's Pochettino when he gave away a penalty on Deportivo's Diego Tristán. Villarreal's Gonzalo can also think himself unfortunate to be given a second booking and a penalty against him when he ball hit his arm at point blank range, and Numancia's Otxoa was not a happy man to be booked twice in the first half against Betis. Yeste also picked up a second caution near the end of Athletic's epic comeback against Osasuna, rather putting a bit of a damper on his performance, and Mallorca's new boy Iuliano found out the hard way that Spanish referees are even stricter than Italy's when he got himself sent off for a second bookable offence on his debut in the Bernabeu stadium.

Another five will be joining the above villains in the stands at the weekend after reaching the five yellow card barrier, including Sosa (Atlético), Gerardo and Juan Rodríguez (Málaga), Oriol (Racing) and Nihat (Real Sociedad). They have a long way to go though to reach our current leader Pablo García, who picked up his fifteenth booking of the season at the weekend. With his closest rival Javi Navarro out for a few weeks with a broken nose, he now has a chance to pull even further ahead. (25.01.05)