Five red cards in the cup midweek, including two for Recreativo players as they lost at Betis. Barber was the first to go for a second bookable offence, and Poli followed him for something he said to referee Rubinos Pérez . Mallorca's Jankovic was also shown a red card for insulting Velasco Carballo after he awarded a penalty to Athletic Bilbao, and physical trainer Toni Severa was also sent off for his protests. And their was a red card as well for Gimnastica Segovia's González Casillas at Sevilla.

And so to the weekend, where Iturralde González and his infamous linesman Rafa Guerrero produced four red cards between them, including one for Motta for lashing out at Diego Milito, and one for Milito's brother Gabi for bringing down Deco as he advanced on goal a couple of minutes later. Barça assistant coach Johan Neeskens was shown a red card for trying to strangle Juanfran (!!!) after the Motta sending off, and delegate Carlos Naval was also sent up to the stands for protesting (see white stick section for more).

Elsewhere there were three more red cards, including Levante's Alvaro for a hard tackle on Betis forward Maldonado near the end of their game. Villarreal substitute José Marí was also shown a straight red for a tackle on an opponent, and Celta's Tamas got his marching orders for a second bookable offence. Four players will also be banned next weekend after reaching the five yellow card threshold, including Diogo and D'Alessandro from Zaragoza, Alexis from Levante and Corrales from Osasuna. (14.11.06)