A bad week for referees, and there were calls once again for slow motion video cameras at matches to help the officials in those difficult decisions. Things started to go wrong on Wednesday night when Iturralde González sent off Real Madrid's Zidane in their cup tie at Sevilla. There was definitely contact, but was it enough to send Alfaro crashing to the ground? Probably not, and after receiving a heated visit in the changing rooms at half time from an angry Jorge Valdano (who was fined by the RFEF after the police had to remove him physically), Iturralde then upset the other side by sending off Javi Navarro. You just can't win if you are a referee in Spain!

The real controversy though came at the weekend in the table topping clash between Real Madrid and Valencia. Tristante Oliva awarded an injury time penalty to Madrid after Marchena and Raúl clashed in the area (did Marchena hold on to Raúl or did Raúl back into Marchena?), and Figo thankfully struck home the equaliser from the spot kick. After similar incidents in previous meetings, the Valencia entourage were outraged, and a group of 250 shareholders and fans have decided to take Tristante and the RFEF to court for negligence, claiming one euro for each of the claimants for "moral damages". They don't have a leg to stand on, but the court case will be fun!

That wasn't the only match where the referee's performance was criticised though, and John Toshack and his team at Real Murcia were less than happy when Lizondo Cortés awarded two dubious penalties against them and sent off Esnaider early on for insults. And it was no consolation that the referee sent off Sevilla's Torrado and awarded Murcia a penalty later on in the game. Lizondo and his assistants left the field protected by the plastic shields of the local police, and the club was fined for the missile throwing which took place. (17.02.04)