More international appearances for our boys, with Iturralde being asked to take charge of the rescheduled game between Montpellier and Monaco in the French league as their own referees were on a course. Unfortunately he received a lot of criticism for allowing a controversial last minute goal for the hosts which should not have stood. They won't invite him back in a hurry. In the midweek cup matches, Fernández Marín upset Valladolid manager Pepe Moré, despite leaving his opponents Deportivo with nine players at the end. In particular Moré was upset about the late penalty given for a foul by Peña on Pandiani, and said that he would prefer that the referee didn't return to the Nuevo Zorilla stadium. Fernández set a new record for the season with 13 yellow cards (including ten to Depor players) and two reds, albeit over 120 minutes of football.

Another quiet weekend in the league, and things seem to have settled down in the new year after a couple of traumatic weeks before Christmas. Two goals were controversially disallowed again this week, but unlike last week when Valencia's cancelled early strike at Real Madrid caused headlines around the world, these two hardly got a mention. In particular Amato's last minute goal would have given Betis victory at Espanyol had Ansuategui Roca not ruled it out for a non-existent offside, but manager Juande Ramos preferred to play it down Osasuna's Aloisi also had a goal disallowed in the match against Villarreal only a couple of minutes after opening the scoring, but with Gancedo in an offside position Pérez Lasa's decision was justifiable. Elsewhere Ramírez Domínguez let Celta's Cavallero off a red card when he hauled down Marioni with a rugby tackle outside of the area, and Undiano Mallenco missed a penalty by Láinez on Gallardo. Nothing to write home about though, and for once sports commentators were able to concentrate on football, which is what it is all about. (21.01.02)