Villains

Five red cards in the midweek round of matches, with Villarreal's promising young defender Musacchio getting himself sent off early in the game against Almería for a foul on Piatti. Numbers were evened up when Chico was also red-carded after the break, but by then Villarreal were too far behind. Xerez's last hopes of survival have all but disappeared after a 3-1 defeat at Valencia ended with Redondo getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence, and Racing are also struggling after Morris gave away a penalty and then picked up two bookings in a 1-5 thrashing by Sevilla.

Espanyol's Nico Pareja was also sent for an early bath after getting himself booked for giving away a penalty at Zaragoza and then immediately earning himself a second caution for arguing, and his team-mate Luis García was also shown two yellow cards, although as the last one was after the final whistle it doesn't count as a sending off. It was however García's tenth yellow card of the season, and he will therefore miss the weekend game against Osasuna. That doesn't matter so much as Espanyol are 99% safe, but there will be more important absences next weekend for teams with everything to play for, with for example Champions League candidates Mallorca missing Nunes and Borja Valero who both picked up their tenth bookings of the season. Struggling Málaga will be without Iván González (10 bookings) Munúa and Valdo (both five) for their match at Getafe, and Racing will not be able to count on top scorer Tchité for their relegation battle at Valladolid after he too picked up a fifth yellow card. (07.05.10)

PS. Chico (Almería) and Munúa (Málaga) were let off their respective red and yellow cards by the appeals committee, and therefore will be available to their coaches at the weekend.

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Assunçao (Atlético) 16 2 4 22
Pareja (Espanyol) 15 2 4* 21
Luna (Tenerife) 15 2 4 21
Ponzio (Zaragoza) 15 1 (1) 3 20
Amorebieta (Athletic) 16 1 3 20
Roncaglia (Espanyol) 14 2 3 19
Gámez (Málaga) 13 1 (1) 3 18
Nunes (Mallorca) 13 1 (1) 3* 18
Keita (Xerez) 11 2 4 17
Redondoi (Xerez) 12 2 3* 17
Orbaiz (Athletic) 8 2 (2) 4 16
Ramos (Real Madrid) 11 1 (1) 3 16
Iván González (Málaga) 11 1 (1) 3* 16
Barral (Sporting) 11 1 (1) 3 16
Gregory (Sporting) 13 1 2 16
Soldado (Getafe) 14 0 2 16
Navarro (Sevilla) 14 0 2 16
Morris (Racing) 10 2 3* 15
Borja (Valladolid) 10 1 (1) 3 15
Forlín (Espanyol) 11 1 (1) 2 15
Boateng (Getafe) 12 1 2 15
Rafa (Getafe) 13 0 2 15