Four straight red cards in a frenetic end to the season, including three in the match between Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla. Coke was the first to go for protesting from the substitutes’ bench before the break, his team-mate Kolodziejczak followed him down the tunnel for a “potty-mouth” comment to the linesman (didn’t know his Spanish was that good!), and local sub Mikel Rico also took the long walk for a hard tackle near the end . And on Sunday Getafe’s Emi Buendía was red carded for a late tackle on Betis midfielder Dani Ceballos as frustration got the better of him, his team heading for relegation at the time. All will miss the opening game of next season together with nine players who completed the five yellow card cycle, including Escalante (Eibar), who picked up his fifteenth, Cala (Getafe), Deyverson (Levante) and André Gomes (Valencia), who were shown their tenth, and Griezmann (Atlético), Doucouré (Granada), Lemos (Las Palmas), Modric (Real Madrid) and Cristóforo (Sevilla), who were all given their fifth. At the end of all that then our “Villains” award goes to Espanyol’s Diop, who just beat Rubén Pérez to the prize due to the greater number of red cards he received. (17.05.16)

PS Kolodziejczak was given a four match ban and Coke two for their insults to the officials last weekend. That was bad news in particular for Kolo, as a suspension of that length has to be served out in the next domestic games, independently of the competition. With Sevilla in the cup final that means that the French defender will therefore miss that match, and as the Andalusians will also play the two-leg Spanish Super Cup in August (the other finalist Barcelona being league champions), he will also be banned there. Sevilla will however appeal.

PPS. No less than four red cards and twelve yellows shown by referee Del Cerro Grande in this season’s cup final between Barcelona and Sevilla, which must be something of a record! Mascherano was the first to go after he was given a straight red for bringing down Gameiro with ten minutes still to go to half time, and numbers were evened up when Banega was also sent off for a foul on Neymar coming up to the end of the ninety minutes. With extra time coming to an end and Barça 2-0 up, Carriço was sent to set the bath-taps running after calling the referee a “marica” (basically a homosexual!), and Barça’s assistant coach De la Fuente was also red-carded for protesting late on in the match. The French defender was given a four match suspension as a result, and Mascherano and Banega one each, and three other players will miss the first Copa del Rey game of next season as well after picking up their third bookings in the competition, Iniesta, Rami and Krychowiak. Quite a night!

(* suspension pending disciplinary meeting decision)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Diop (Espanyol) 16 2 (1) 4 23
Rubén Pérez (Granada) 17 1 (1) 4 23
Simao (Levante) 12 2 (1) 7 22
Piqué (Barcelona) 14 1 (1) 6 22
Mascherano (Barcelona) 13 2 (2) 4* 21
Víctor Sánchez (Espanyol) 15 2 4 21
Escalante (Eibar) 15 1 (1) 4* 21
Pablo Hernández (Celta) 17 1 3 21
Cabral (Celta) 11 2 (1) 6 20
Deyverson (Levante) 14 2 4* 20
Mustafi (Valencia) 15 1 (1) 3 20
Recio (Málaga) 17 0 3 20
Nach Cases (Sporting) 12 2 (1) 4 19
Aythami (Las Palmas) 14 2 3 19
Iborra (Sevilla) 12 2 (1) 3 18
Filipe Luis (Atlético) 13 1 (1) 3 18
Gabi (Atlético Madrid) 14 1 3 18
Hernán Pérez (Espanyol) 14 1 3 18
Dani García (Eibar) 15 0 3 18
Orellana (Celta) 12 1 4 17
Cala (Getafe) 13 1 3* 17
Illarramendi (Real Sociedad) 15 0 2 17