The men in black were unusually quiet in the latest round of midweek matches, maybe because their day jobs left them a bit tired. The Celta players felt a bit hard done by in their match against Depor, but that was more due to a linesman who incorrectly put up a flag for offside in the play leading up to the first goal. The Celta defenders hesitated when they saw him and Diego Tristán put the ball in the net almost unchallenged, really out of habit more than anything as he too saw the flag. However referee Medina Cantalejo had seen that Luccin had played the striker onside and awarded the goal and Depor went on to win the match and knock their neighbours off the top of the table. It only goes to show that you should play to the whistle.

Otherwise nothing really controversial to report. Rayo's Bolic was deprived of a the possibility of setting a new club record five goals in five matches when incorrectly ruled offside by Losantos Omar, and Téllez Sánchez showed his usual collection of yellow cards making him the first referee to reach 100 cards for the season. Pino Zamorano lost ground when he uncharacteristically failed to show even one yellow card in the game between Barcelona and Real Sociedad. The poor man is a civil servant from Madrid, and must have been dead on his feet after a hard day's work and a long trip to the match. (08.02.02)