Fifth round, second leg of
the cup midweek, with three red cards in all. Mallorca's Ballesteros was sent
off after giving away a penalty against Deportivo, and Villarreal's Cani got
his marching orders after being shown a second yellow card for arguing with the
referee as the players came off the pitch at half time. Valladolid's Chema was
also sent off for a second bookable offence later in the same match, but by
then the second division side had won.
After a weekend where no red
cards were shown at all, this Saturday started off with a bang. The game
between Atlético Madrid and Osasuna ended with no less than five red
cards, one for local coach Javier Aguirre (two yellows for protesting in the
first half), and four for the visitors later on from an overzealous Lizondo
Cortés. Cuéllar was the first to go, a straight red for giving
away a penalty on Fernando Torres (which he missed), and Soldado followed for
an elbow on Zé Castro which cost him a two match ban from the
disciplinary committee. Goalkeeper Ricardo went for a second yellow card for
time wasting (with his side losing!), and Raúl García also got a
straight red after stepping back on Seitaridis.
Two more reds as well on
Sunday, including one for another coach, Zaragoza's Víctor
Fernández, who insulted the referee. And Celta's Contreras was sent for
an early bath after picking up two bookings late on at Getafe. They will be
joined on the sidelines this weekend by Iriney (Celta), Capdevila and Riki
(Deportivo) and Mingo (Gimnastic), who were all shown their fifth yellow cards
of the campaign, and by Alexis (Levante), the first player this season to reach
the ten yellow card threshold. (23.01.07) |