What a weekend! The record books were torn apart as the ten league matches produced no less than 13 red cards, by far the highest in living memory (at least ours!). Five of those though came in the match between Racing Santander and Málaga, with visiting midfielder Anderson Silva the first to go for a second bookable offence in the first half. Referee Megia Dávila pulled out all the stops after the break though, giving straight reds to Racing's Vitolo, Pinillos and Aganzo, the first for head-butting an opponent off the ball and the other two for heavy tackles, and in between he also left Málaga with nine men after Gerardo was also shown a second yellow card.

Real Sociedad also had a couple of men sent off, their two summer signings from Eibar Cifuentes and Garitano both picking up two bookings. Two straight red cards as well in the game between Mallorca and Atlético Madrid, the visitors' young keeper Falcón the first to go after bringing down an attacker outside of the area, and local defender Fernando Navarro following him down the tunnel after a dangerous tackle. Mallorca's team delegate was also sent off after being shown two yellow cards for protesting.

Two players were sent off on Saturday, Celta keeper Pinto after giving away a first half penalty against arch rivals Deportivo, and Betis defender Oscar López for a high kick late in the game which left Athletic Bilbao's Tiko with a bloody nose. And in the last match of the weekend Osasuna's Puñal was sent for an early bath after elbowing Roberto Carlos with only fifteen minutes on the clock. Added to all that, another eight players will have to sit out the midweek round of games after picking up their fifth bookings, including Zahinos (Atlético), Celestini (Getafe), Casquero (Racing), Salgado and Guti (Real Madrid), Alves and David (Sevilla) and Ponzio (Zaragoza). Talk about Christmas spirit! (20.12.05)