Lizondo Cortés was at it again midweek, this time upsetting the Barcelona management when he sent off Víctor Valdés and awarded a penalty in the clash between Betis and Barcelona. Technical director Txiki Beguiristain complained that the referee had acted over the top and spoiled the game for the fans, and the disciplinary committee tended to agree with him, downgrading the red card to a yellow.

There was talk of conspiracy again this week, this time by Valencia's president Jaime Ortí who was upset that Teixeira Vitienes awarded a penalty against Ayala when TV pictures proved he played the ball, whereas two penalty claims from his own side were turned down. Teixeira made a double mistake at the end though which probably favoured the locals, apparently failing to recognise that Mista's shot had bounced down over the line from the crossbar, and originally awarding the goal to Baraja on the follow up (later corrected). If he believed that at the time, then the goal should never have stood as Baraja was in an offside position.

Ortí's anger was exacerbated though by the decision from Moreno Delgado the day before to allow Iván Helguera's winning goal in Real Madrid's derby match at Atlético. Even the pro-Madrid paper Marca recognised that Raúl had fouled keeper Aragoneses and that the goal was scored from an offside position. Madrid would point out though that the sending off of Pavón and the resulting penalty were both dubious decisions which some referees would not have given. A conspiracy in favour of Real Madrid? Moreno is Catalan, for heaven's sake!

Actually if anybody had cause for complaint it was Zaragoza (and complain they did!) after Medina Cantalejo sent off central defenders Milito and Alvaro, the former in particular for elbowing an opponent. Fair enough, but the referee didn't even give a yellow when Del Horno broke Cani's nose with his elbow in the first half. Elsewhere Villarreal could have been upset when Mejuto González awarded a penalty for a very doubtful deliberate hand ball by Quique Alvarez when he went up for a challenge, and gave another penalty in the last minute. No complaints though from the Yellow Submarine, but then they won. (20.04.04)