After the three games played on Saturday night, we appeared to be in for a record weekend, with no less than 33 yellow cards and three red (one in each match). Pérez Burrull set the pace disallowing what looked like a perfectly good Dely Valdés goal in the second half, compensating we suppose the fact that he did not give a penalty earlier on for a foul by Málaga's Fernando Sanz on Rayo's Peragón. Pérez Pérez carried on with his now usual performance of a yellow card per foul in the Sevilla derby, ending the day with twelve yellows and a red, and upset the locals when his linesman signalled for a suspect offside as Dani bore down on goal. And then Megía Dávila rounded things off with what must surely be a record fourteen yellow cards and a red in the Las Palmas Villarreal game.

Things calmed down a bit on Sunday, but Osasuna manager Miguel Angel Lotina was very critical of Esquinas Torres, who he said made six mistakes in 30 seconds (another record? Probably not in Spain) when he awarded a penalty to Valencia, sent off Josetxo and gave out two more yellow cards in the ensuing protest. As it happened Unzué saved the spot kick anyway. Undiano Mallenco didn't spot that Diego Tristán was in an offside position when he received the ball leading up to the penalty incident in the match between Depprtivo and Tenerife. Clemente's comments are probably unprintable, but again the keeper saved Tristán's kick so the less said the better. An average week really, (25.03.02)