Fun and games even before the new season began, with Real Madrid having two players sent off in the second leg of the Super Cup final against Valencia. New signing Rafa Van der Vaart was the first to go for a hard tackle on Mata before the break, and Van Nistelrooy followed him early in the second half for a second bookable offence. Despite playing with nine men though, Madrid came back from behind to win. Being a straight red card, Van der Vaart misses the next competitive match, i.e. the first game of the league, whereas his team mate (who curiously tops both the Pichichi and the Villains charts this week) must serve out his sentence in the same competition, which could be a long time in the future!

So on to the league, and a magnanimous decision by the authorities to pardon all the bans carried over from last season in honour of Spain's win in Euro 2008. That meant that Dani Alves, Sinama-Pongolle and others were all available to play for their respective clubs. This time around there were only two red cards, both coming in the game between Osasuna and Villarreal. Godín was the first to go for the visitors after giving away a penalty, and Miguel Flaño followed him down the tunnel a few minutes later for a high tackle. (01.09.08)