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We may have had an opening weekend without any sendings off, but week two made up for that with a vengeance after referees produced no less than eight red cards. Three of those were for insulting the officials, something which the disciplinary committee are looking to clamp down on this season. However it is a difficult thing to prove, boiling down in the end to the referee's word against the player's, and in all three cases the people in question, Osasuna's Puñal, Real Madrid's Coentrao (whilst on the subs' bench) and Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, all denied making the comments which our good men in black attributed to them. Whatever the case the committee has thrown the book against them this week, with the first two banned for four matches, and Vilanova for two.

Four more players were sent off after giving away penalties, Sevilla's Diego López with a straight red, and Albín (Espanyol), Ricardo Costa (Valencia) and David Navarro (Levante), all of whom received second bookings for their offences. Albín's and Navarro's were for blocking the ball with their arms, and Navarro in particular was upset that he received a yellow card for the offence, whereas Athletic Bilbao's Gurpegui got away scot free for something very similar. Málaga's Eliseu was also unhappy about the red card he received late in the match against Mallorca for what the referee considered was an elbow in the face of Tomas Pina as both were lying on the ground. The Portuguese winger had just suffered a heavy tackle for his opponent inside the penalty area, but even then it looked more like his arm hit Pina in the act of falling. After all that, it looks like the appeals committee are going to be busy over the next few days! (29.08.12)

(* suspension pending disciplinary meeting decision)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Puñal (Osasuna) 0 1 (1) 4* 6
Coentrao (Real Madrid) 0 1 (1) 4* 6
Albín (Espanyol) 2 1 1* 4
Navarro (Levante) 2 1 1* 4
Ricardo Costa (Valencia) 2 1 1* 4
Eliseu (Málaga) 0 1 (1) 1* 3
Diego López (Sevilla) 0 1 (1) 1* 3
Mascherano (Barcelona) 2 0 0 2
Wakaso (Espanyol) 2 0 0 2
Ballesteros (Levante) 2 0 0 2
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) 2 0 0 2