Referees returned to the headlines this weekend after a quite fortnight or so with little news. No controversy though at the Nou Camp, where there was great concern from both sides before the game after Pérez Burrull was chosen by the federation computer (with its usual funny sense of humour) to referee the biggest match of the season between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Pérez was perfectly correct, having to deal with two pitch invasions, and except possibly for a couple of marginal decisions did a good job. Not so Turienzo Alvarez, who was the latest in a long line of referees to upset the Rayo Vallecano faithful. He turned down two fairly clear penalties on Rayo's Bolic in the first half, and was met by a hail of objects at the break, including half-eaten sandwiches and soft drinks. Maybe they thought he was fainting from hunger or something? In any case there were few protests at the end as Turienzo favoured them by allowing their winning goal to stand, despite the fact that fans had thrown a purple flare into the penalty area. Under the local rules he should have stopped play to allow the smoke to clear, but he waved away Valencia's protests, probably not wanting to be hit by rice pudding and steaming hot coffee and cigars at the end of the game.

Turienzo's performance was quiet though compared to our old friend Daudén Ibáñez. If he had done to Rayo what he did to Alavés, they would have thrown a turkey dinner at him and then applied the stuffing without mercy, that's for sure. Daudén sent off no less than three home side players in a game that was hard (as are all Basque derbies) but not particularly dirty, starting with Magno who did appear to hit Lacruz with his elbow but only it seemed in an effort to shake him off. He then sent off Navarro and later on awarded a controversial penalty for holding, sending off Téllez and leaving the Vitoria based side with eight. A few minutes later he should probably have stopped the game when Ibon Begoña also left the field injured with all substitutions made, although the midfielder did return quickly to restore the minimum number of players on the field. Despite all that, the only things that the home fans threw on the pitch were plastic bottles of water. Different part of the country, different culinary habits. (18.03.02)