This week it was the turn of Losantos Omar to make the headlines, with even the pro-Madrid press unanimous in the opinion that the referee's decisions had helped "Los Galacticos" win against Zaragoza. First of all he let Figo off a red card for a tackle which left César Jiménez in hospital (see our villains section), and then sent off Zaragoza's Alvaro in the second half (albeit that nobody protested the two yellow cards). He also turned down three penalty appeals, one on Raúl and two on Villa, the second of which by Salgado would have been a foul even for the World Wrestling Federation. And finally he allowed play to go on when Ronaldo scored Madrid's second, even though Figo had received the ball in a clear offside position in the move leading up to the goal. The face of Zaragoza coach Víctor Muñoz (never one to mince his words) was a picture to behold.

Carmona Méndez (and not Medina Cantalejo as we initially reported) played a big part as well in the third round cup match between Recreativo and Sevilla, although his decisions probably didn't favour either side too much. Both teams had a man sent off, Viqueira for an insult in the first half and Javi Navarro for a second bookable offence, a high kick on Uche after the restart. Carmona also awarded three hotly disputed penalties, the first to the home side which they missed and then two to the visitors which Baptista converted. (18.01.05)