It was a case of Groundhog Day for Osasuna's young defender Carlos Cuéllar this weekend. On Wednesday night he was sent off for a second bookable offence ten minutes before the end of the cup semi-final, with his side leading 1-0 against Atlético Madrid. And just like in the film, on Saturday he was sent off for a second bookable offence ten minutes before the end of the league match, again with his side leading 1-0 against Atlético Madrid. He won't forget this week in a hurry!

Cuéllar's was just one of eight red cards this weekend though, a record for the season following on from a quiet couple of weeks. Four came in the other match on Saturday night between Real Madrid and Villarreal, one of which was for Luxemburgo's assistant Antonio Mello for gesturing at the officials with his "dedo corazón" raised. No need to understand Spanish to know which finger that was! Samuel was the first player to go though after picking up a second booking after the break, and Zidane and Quique Alvarez followed him near the end after both were sent off following a brawl involving several players.

Curiously Zidane was being followed by no less than 15 cameras, a film producer making a documentary about him, and it remains to be seen whether the French midfielder did really lose his rag or whether there was an element of playing up to the cameras. Whatever the case, it certainly spiced up the ending. However, with Salgado also picking up a tenth booking of the season, Madrid will be missing three key players for their game at Real Sociedad next weekend.

Elsewhere Málaga's Amoroso hardly lived up to his name with a not very "amoroso" late tackle on Barcelona's Puyol, earning himself a straight red card near the end of their game. Zaragoza's Alvaro picked up his third red card of the season for a second booking against Espanyol, and Albacete's Buades was also sent off after being shown two yellow cards against Valencia.

As well as Salgado, Atlético Madrid's Pablo and Luccin will also be suspended next weekend after being shown their tenth yellow cards of the season. And six players will also be out after receiving their fifth, including Redondo (Albacete), Xavi (Barcelona), Arruabarrena and Riquelme (Villarreal) and Gallardo and Ponzio (Zaragoza). (26.04.05)