No doubt about this week's villain, Javi Navarro getting his name in all the papers after his horrendous clash with Mallorca's Arango. The Venezuelan midfielder was left lying on the field unconscious with a broken cheekbone and head damage after the two players ran in to each other at high speed, and for a moment his life was in danger as he stopped breathing and went in to spasms on the pitch. Doctors reacted quickly and he was rushed into intensive care where, after surgery which required 47 stitches he was declared to be out of danger. Navarro protested his innocence, but his elbow was high and Mallorca have lodged a complaint which the disciplinary committee are currently investigating. If they decide it was violent conduct he could be given a ban of anything up to twelve matches.

Curiously though referee Pino Zamorano only gave the defender a yellow card (Caparrós wisely substituting him at half time after that), but he did send off two players, Mallorca's De los Santos for a second booking for protesting a penalty decision soon after the Arango incident, and Sevilla's Baptista, who was shown a rigorous second yellow card after the ball hit him on the arm late on. They were two of four players sent off this weekend, including Numancia's Juanpa, who was given a direct red card for a high kick on Morán late in the game against Racing Santander, the midfielder suffering a cracked rib as a result.

There was much speculation as to whether Barcelona and Real Madrid players on four or nine yellow cards (Puyol, Márquez, Deco, Xavi, Zidane, Samuel, Guti and Raúl Bravo) would deliberately force a booking to sit out their next league match and thereby not run the risk of missing the clash between the two sides the following week. Zidane and Márquez did pick up the caution they needed, but Márquez then went a step too far and picked up a second booking to leave his side with ten men. Deco's blatant efforts were ignored by the referee though, and he will have to be careful in the game against Betis not to overstep the line.

As well as Zidane four other players also reached the next threshold and will be banned when the league resumes in a fortnight's time, Sevilla's Martí, who picked up his tenth yellow card, and Tiko (Athletic), Scaloni (Deportivo) and new international Antonio López (Atlético), all of whom were shown their fifth. (22.03.05)