Six red cards at the weekend, starting with Espanyol keeper Kiko Casilla, who was sent off late on in the derby match against Barcelona on Saturday after blocking Messi’s attempted lob with his hands outside of the area. Later in the evening Athletic Bilbao’s Laporte got his marching orders for a second bookable offence in the game against Atlético (Diego Costa too much of a handful for the youngster?), and on Sunday lunchtime Almería’s Torsiglieri was also sent for an early bath after picking up two yellow cards against Valladolid.

The other three red cards all came in the game between Valencia and Getafe on Sunday night, Mathieu losing his cool with Pedro León after he celebrated the winning goal in front of the local fans near the end of the match. The club said they would appeal, claiming provocation by the Getafe player, but Mathieu clearly struck León a couple of times, and he is perhaps lucky that referee Gil Manzano didn’t make more of the incident in his report. All of that also set off a bit of argy-bargy on the touchline, and visiting coach Cosmin Contra and Valencia assistant Manuel Suárez were also sent to the stands after exchanging more than a few words.

Elsewhere nine players will miss next weekend’s games after reaching the five yellow card threshold, including our runaway leader Víctor Sánchez (Espanyol), who completed the second cycle, but has in fact been shown 18 yellows and three reds in all domestic competitions. Villarreal’s Jaume Costa (who was let off a booking only four days ago) and Atlético’s Gabi also reached the ten yellow card mark, and Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Colotto (Espanyol), Mosquera (Getafe), David Navarro (Levante), and Loties and Armenteros (both Osasuna) all clocked up their fifth. ( 01.04.14 )

(* suspension pending disciplinary meeting decision)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Víctor Sánchez (Espanyol) 18 3 5* 26
Botía (Elche) 16 0 3 19
Duda (Málaga) 8 2 (2) 6 18
Gálvez (Rayo Vallecano) 14 1 3 18
Saúl (Rayo Vallecano) 14 1 3 18
Jesús Gámez (Málaga) 11 1 4 17
Iturra (Granada) 12 2 3 17
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) 12 1 (1) 3 17
Sergio Sánchez (Málaga) 13 1 3 17
Damián Suárez (Elche) 11 2 3 16
Diogo Figueiras (Sevilla) 8 1 (1) 5 15
Filipe Luis (Atlético) 8 2 (1) 4 15
Cala (Sevilla) 9 2 (1) 3 15
Alexis (Getafe) 13 0 2 15
Aduríz (Athletic Bilbao) 9 1 4 14
Dubarbier (Almería) 11 1 2 14
Amaya (Betis) 11 1 2 14
Nono (Betis) 11 1 2 14
Borja (Getafe) 11 1 2 14
Arribas (Osasuna) 11 1 2 14
Silva (Osasuna) 11 1 2 14
Iborra (Sevilla) 11 1 2 14
Gabi (Atlético Madrid) 12 0 2* 14
Busquets (Barcelona) 13 0 1 14