Villains

Two players sent off in the cup tie between Atlético Madrid and Espanyol on the last official day of the footballing year. Reyes must have felt himself unlucky though to be going off alone after being shown a red card for retailiating against Dátolo shortly before half time, as the Argentinian midfielder had brought him down with a bad tackle and then kicked the ball against him as he lay on the ground. Dátolo was only booked for the offence, but numbers were evened up in the second half when Víctor Ruíz picked up a second booking.

Five red cards at the weekend, including three in the match between Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo. San José was the first to go with just over half an hour on the clock for holding back Adrián as he advanced on goal, but ten minutes later Juan Rodríguez joined him in the tunnel for a second bookable offence. Athletic ended the game with nine men however after Ustaritz was also given a second yellow card near the end. Elsewhere Valencia's Aduríz was sent off for elbowing Espanyol's Chica with an hour gone in their match, and Real Madrid's Arbeloa got his marching orders for a second booking near the end of the derby game at Getafe. Another eight players will miss next weekend's games after picking up their fifth bookings of the season, including Forlín (Espanyol), Eliseu (Málaga), Soriano (Osasuna), Griezmann (Real Sociedad), Zokora (Sevilla), Ricardo Costa (Valencia), Ponzio (Zaragoza) and Nano (Levante), who was let off a fifth yellow card by the appeals committee only a couple of weeks ago. (05.01.11)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Ponzio (Zaragoza) 8 2 (1) 3* 14
Botía (Sporting) 9 1 (1) 2 13
Piqué (Barcelona) 9 1 2 12
Boateng (Getafe) 9 1 2 12
Arbeloa (Real Madrid) 7 2 2* 11
Eliseu (Málaga) 7 1 (1) 2* 11
Forlín (Espanyol) 8 1 2* 11
Carvalho (Real Madrid) 8 1 2 11
Pepe (Real Madrid) 8 1 2 11
Gurpegui (Athletic) 10 0 1 11
Albelda (Valencia) 7 0 3 10
Aguilar (Hércules) 5 2 (1) 2 10
Cata Díaz (Getafe) 6 1 (1) 2 10
Víctor Ruíz (Espanyol) 7 1 2* 10
Rafa (Getafe) 7 1 2 10
David Navarro (Valencia) 7 1 2 10
Borja Valero (Villarreal) 7 1 2 10
Puñal (Osasuna) 9 0 1 10