Referees didn't do so well this weekend, provoking one leading sports paper at least to give five of them zero points out of three. There were several bad decisions, but none more so than at Betis, where Pérez Lasa (or should we say his linesman) turned down Celta's appeals when Joaquín scored a late winner from a position at least two metres offside. We await the referee's report with interest, but lip readers will know that visiting manager Lotina wasn't exactly congratulating him as the players left the field.

It doesn't take a lip reader though to know that Rayo's lady president Teresa Rivero will not be a happy person today. She does have a tendency to wear "white with a red stripe down them" glasses when criticising referees, but she will have a case this time as Pérez Pérez failed to penalize Bilbao keeper Lafuente when he pulled down Bolic as he advanced on goal, then giving a late penalty to the other side for them to score the winner. He also didn't send off Urzaiz for a horrendous two footed tackle on a Rayo player, but left the visitors with ten men after giving a second yellow card to Azkoitia. As if Rayo didn't have enough to cope with!

The match between Racing Santander and Mallorca could have ended up 0-0 if it wasn't for Moreno Delgado. He awarded two penalties and a free kick, all of which were not, and all of which resulted in goals. Elsewhere there were controversial penalty decisions (there always are) and goals that possibly crossed the line but didn't count. The papers will have a lot to write about. (19.11.02)