The fun and games this weekend came from Santander, where infamous linesman Rafa Guerrero was in action again. Our regular readers will remember this man with X-ray vision who spots incidents that nobody else can see, and who was described by one coach as being more dangerous than a monkey with two pistols. The game between Racing and Athletic Bilbao was in injury time when Rafa struck, calling the attention of referee Rodríguez Santiago to what he considered was a deliberate hand ball by local defender Juanma in the area. History doesn't relate whether Rodríguez repeated Turienzo Alvarez's famous phrase of "Rafa, no me jodas!", but after a heated discussion with the players, the referee had no option but to award a penalty which Orbaiz converted to effectively wrap up the match.

Television cameras showed afterwards though that, (at least to people with normal vision), the ball hit the defender on the leg and deflected on to his arm and out of play, clearly not a deliberate action. As the game finished (Athletic eventually won 0-2), Rodríguez was forced to show a red card to Jonathan for insulting the linesman, and the officials had to be protected by police shields from a hail of objects as they walked off the pitch. Guerrero is so well known in Spain that he is the subject of a television advert for Renault vans, where undesirable elements (including in the past Simeone and streaker Mark Roberts) are abandoned in the wilds so people can get on with their lives. Racing must be wishing that it was for real. (19.04.05)