Villains

No less than ten red cards this weekend, the second highest of the season, although six of them came in the game between Espanyol and Betis. Pandiani was the first to go for elbowing an opponent late in the first half, but Pérez Lima then produced three at once in a controversial last minute penalty incident (see white stick section), one for keeper Contreras for the foul on Tamudo, one for Edu for protesting and for Miguel Angel, who the referee said pushed him. And as the players were leaving the pitch there were two more, one for Arzu for insulting Pérez, and another for the kit manager Acuña who, again according to the referee's report, approached the official "with his hands on his testicles" calling him names! Miguel Angel was let off on appeal, but Arzu and Acuña got two match bans and the others one.

Two more red cards in one match the day before as well, Atlético's Luccin getting his marching orders for insulting Medina Cantalejo, and Eller following him down the tunnel a few minutes later after receiving two yellow cards, both as well for protesting. Elsewhere Levante's reserve keeper Cavallero was given two bookings in a minute whilst on the bench, the first for arguing and the second for refusing to turn round to show his number (!), and Racing's Rubén appears to be about the only player sent off this weekend for footballing reasons after picking up two bookings for hard tackles in the game at Recreativo.

Pérez and Medina's decisions didn't stop there though, and the ranks of Espanyol and Atlético were further decimated after Luis García from the former, and Gabi and Mista from the latter were all shown their fifth yellow cards of the season. They will be joined on the sidelines this weekend by Coloccini (Deportivo), Jankovic (Mallorca), Calvo (Nàstic) and Kovacevic (Real Sociedad), who also were given their fifth bookings of the season in their respective matches. (24.04.07)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Diogo (Zaragoza) 17 1 (1) 7 26
Ramos (Real Madrid) 14 1 4 19
Luccin (Atlético Madrid) 14 1 (1) 3* 19
Murillo (Athletic) 15 1 3 19
Ballesteros (Mallorca) 12 2 (1) 3 18
Lopo (Deportivo) 11 2 (1) 3 17
Cannavaro (R Madrid) 13 1 3 17
Guti (Real Madrid) 9 2 (1) 4 16
Gabi Milito (Zaragoza) 10 2 (1) 3 16
Deco (Barcelona) 11 1 (1) 3 16
Alves (Sevilla) 14 0 2 16
Riera (Espanyol) 6 3 (2) 4 15
Pablo García (Celta) 7 2 (1) 5 15
Angel (Celta) 9 2 (1) 3 15
Tamas (Celta) 10 2 3 15
Zigic (Racing) 12 1 2 15
Javi Navarro (Sevilla) 12 1 2 15