We’ve seen it all before, a talented youngster falls into a trap set by a seasoned old (dare we say Argentinian?) veteran, and off he goes! In this case it was Valencia’s Carlos Soler who got his marching orders for a retaliatory slap at Eibar’s Escalante after the midfielder pushed him in the face following a corner shortly before the break in their game on Saturday. Escalante fell to the ground as if pole-axed, and rookie referee Munuera Montero (who hadn’t seen the original push) sent off Soler and gave a penalty to the Basque side, which Adrián converted. Game over!

Only one other red card this weekend, Granada assistant coach Jesús Pérez being sent to the stands for protesting, and three players will miss next weekend’s games after picking up their fifth bookings of the season, Roberto Torres (Osasuna), Nasri (Sevilla) and Garay (Valencia). Two players will also be suspended from next Tuesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg tie between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, Neymar and Gabi both being shown their third yellow cards in that competition in Wednesday night’s first leg. (07.02.17)

PS. Nasri was let off his fifth yellow card on appeal, so he will be available to play this weekend. For the record as well, as Kroos was not able to serve out his one match suspension at Celta due to the postponement of the match, he will have to serve the ban this Saturday against Osasuna.

(* suspension pending disciplinary meeting decision)

Villains Yellow cards Red cards (straight) Games banned Total points
Theo Hernández (Alavés) 9 2 (1) 3 15
Amorebieta (Sporting) 13 0 2 15
Hugo Mallo (Celta) 7 1 (1) 5 14
Enzo Pérez (Valencia) 9 1 (1) 2 13
Iñigo Martínez (Real Soc) 10 1 2 13
Raúl García (Athletic) 11 1 1 13
Uche Agbo (Granada) 7 1 (1) 3 12
Aduríz (Athletic) 9 1 2 12
Pablo Hernández (Celta) 10 0 2 12
Boateng (Las Palmas) 7 1 (1) 2 11
Petros (Betis) 8 1 2 11
Jaume Costa (Villarreal) 7 1 2 10
Gabi (Atlético) 8 0 2* 10
Neymar (Barcelona) 8 0 2* 10
Escalante (Eibar) 8 0 2 10
Alexis (Alavés) 9 0 1 10
Deyverson (Alavés) 9 0 1 10
Livaja (Las Palmas) 9 0 1 10
Mercado (Sevilla) 9 0 1 10
Sergi Gómez (Celta) 5 2 2 9
Sansone (Villarreal) 5 1 (1) 2 9
Koke (Atlético Madrid) 7 1 1 9
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 8 0 1 9
Roque (Las Palmas) 8 0 1 9
Camacho (Málaga) 8 0 1 9
Illarramendi (Real Soc) 8 0 1 9
Yuri (Real Sociedad) 8 0 1 9