It was Carnival week in Spain, and where better to celebrate it than Tenerife? Pérez Burrull certainly thought so, and imagine his luck when he was chosen to referee the game between the local side and Sevilla. We can imagine the man dressed in black in the procession through Santa Cruz, blowing his whistle along with the rest of the throng dancing in the streets. Unfortunately he forgot where he was when he got to the ground and carried on blowing his whistle, ending the day with ten yellow cards which takes him to the top of our chart this week. He also awarded a dubious penalty to Sevilla when Tomás went down between Lussenhoff and Javi Venta, much to the anger of the local supporters. A last minute goal by the home side probably saved him from being the subject of another Spanish tradition, the bonfire.

Pérez Pérez was also whistle happy, and he produced a yellow card every time there was a half-hard tackle in the game between Betis and Athletic Bilbao. He clocked up seven in the first half, but thankfully slowed down a bit after the break, presumably because someone pointed out the error of his ways. He still sent off Varela in the end though, although probably justified. Otherwise not much to report, except perhaps that Muñiz Fernández was harangued by the Alavés players after he allowed a dangerously high kick by Calandria to go unpunished in the play leading up to Málaga's last minute goal. Also newsworthy is the fact that, for the second time in a row, a referee left the field without showing a card . Turienzo Alvarez was probably too busy though writing down Real Madrid's goals against Las Palmas to have the time to book anybody. (11.02.02)