Atlético's Paulo Assunçao made life a bit more complicated for his side after giving away a penalty and then getting himself sent off for a second bookable offence in the second leg cup tie against Recreativo. Lucky for him Simao fired home the winning free kick later on.

The new year amnesty appears to be over though as referees showed a season's record eight red cards at the weekend. Four came on Saturday, with Osasuna's Rúper and Espanyol's Roncaglia getting sent off either side of half time for second bookable offences, Athletic Bilbao's Gurpegui getting his marching orders for the same reason in the last minute against Real Madrid, and Barcelona medical assistant Ricart being shown red for protesting. On Sunday Almería's Piatti and Getafe's Boateng also picked up two yellow cards each, and Xerez's Víctor Sánchez and Villarreal's Kiko were both sent off with straight reds. Víctor will be able to play next weekend though as his red was downgraded to yellow on appeal.

On top of all that a further seven players will be suspended next weekend after picking up their fifth bookings of the season. The illustrious list includes Juan Rodríguez (Deportivo), Nico Pareja (Espanyol), Juanito and Baha (Málaga), Aduríz (Mallorca), Ricardo (Tenerife) and Ander Herrera (Zaragoza). (19.01.10)