Villains

.Barcelona's Abidal set something of a record after getting himself sent off for the second time in four days. His red card in the second half against Villarreal meant that he misses next Wednesday's Cup Final, and that following on from his red card in the Champions League semi-final which will keep him out of the European final as well!

Only three other red cards this weekend though, including a straight red for Atlético's Perea after an aggresive tackle on Espanyol's Chica which left the full back out of action. Osasuna were very unhappy that Miguel Flaño was sent off and awarded a penalty against him midway through the first half of the match against Getafe, although from the disciplinary committee's reaction suggested that Muñiz Fernández's big mistake was to show a red card to Getafe's Adrián González (son of new coach Michel) on the hour mark, the decision downgraded to a yellow card on appeal. Michel wasn't too pleased with his boy though, not even looking at him as he left the field dejected.

Another eleven players will be banned next weekend after completing the five yellow card cycle, including our leader, the argumentative Marchena. The Valencia defender has seventeen bookings in all, including three in the cup and fourteen in the league, four of which were for two of his sendings off, which leaves 10 = 2x5. Anybody still following? The others were Carlos García (Almería), Granero (Getafe), Marcelo and Gago (Real Madrid) and César Arzo (Recreativo) with ten bookings, and Beranger (Espanyol), Juanra (Numancia) and David Silva (Valencia), all wth five. (12.05.09)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Marchena (Valencia) 17 3 (1) 5* 26*
Josemi (Mallorca) 14 3 (1) 4 22
Orbaiz (Athletic) 15 2 (1) 4 22
Moisés (Espanyol) 15 2 (1) 4 22
Pepe (Real Madrid) 7 1 (1) 11* 20
Perea (Atlético) 12 2 (2) 4* 20
Yeste (Athletic) 10 3 (2) 4 19
Navarro (Sevilla) 16 0 3 19
Aitor Ocio (Athletic) 12 2 (1) 3 18
Navarro (Mallorca) 12 2 (1) 3 18
Arzu (Betis) 13 2 3 18
Godín (Villarreal) 13 1 (1) 3 18
Jarque (Espanyol) 14 1 3 18
Amorebieta (Athletic) 12 1 (1) 3 17
Serrano (Racing) 12 1 (1) 3 17
Ramos (Real Madrid) 12 1 (1) 3 17
Puñal (Osasuna) 13 1 3 17
Luccin (Racing) 13 1 3 17