What a start to the season! First of all Real Madrid's new signing Pepe gets his marching orders for a second bookable offence in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup final, and then we have seven red cards in the opening weekend of La Liga!

Maybe the most impressive of the lot was Racing Santander's new "secret weapon" Smolarek, who they brought on early in the second half to kill off Barcelona. Within twelve minutes though he pressed the "self-destruct" button, a kamekazi tackle on Abidal earning him a red card. Definitely one to watch! Zaragoza's Matuzalem wasn't far behind though, also earning himself a straight red in his first match in Spain, and Aitor Ocio's return to Athletic Bilbao could have been better, the ex Sevilla defender being shown a second yellow card near the end of the local derby with Osasuna.

Two sides ended their first games with nine men, and there were some unfamiliar names (for these pages at least) as Valencia lost two Spanish internationals, David Villa for a second bookable offence before the break and Joaquín for telling the referee he had no shame (loses a bit on translation, that one!). Getafe also had two players sent off in the ill-fated match at Sevilla, Sousa for a second booking and David Cortés with a straight red, but events after the match really made everything else pale into insignificance. Antonio Puerta R.I.P. (28.08.07)