Two red cards in the midweek cup semi-final between Mallorca and Barcelona, with Martín Cáceres the first to go after giving away a penalty on Castro, and Josemi following him down the tunnel on a stretcher after injuring himself in the tackle which brought him his second yellow card. The Mallorca full back races clear at the top of our chart as a result.

Valladolid ended the match at Recreativo with nine men after Goitom was red-carded for elbowing Lamas, and then Alvaro Rubio was shown a second yellow. They held on though for a win. And there were two red cards as well in the game between Getafe and Málaga, Cuadrado getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence and Soldado having to go for elbowing Apoño near the end.

They will be joined on the sidelines next weekend by nine players who completed the five yellow card cycle, including Cata Díaz (Getafe) and Godín (Villarreal) with ten, and Albín (also Getafe), Duda (Málaga), Scaloni (Mallorca), Ortega (Numancia), Salgado and Gago (both Real Madrid) and Sastre (Sporting), all with five. (10.03.09)