White Stick Awards

Cup ties are always difficult for referees, and there was some controversy this weekend in the fifth round second leg games. Iturralde González upset Valladolid's Mendilibar turning down two late penalty appeals as his side trailed against Atlético, and the coach was eventually shown the red card for a very Spanish gesture, patting his cheek and mouthing "tienes mucha cara" (which could be literally translated as you've got a lot of cheek, although the interpretation is stronger). And Rodríguez Santiago scuppered Espanyol's chances when he sent off Luis García early on for pushing Athletic Bilbao's Tiko. The midfielder did exaggerate the incident though, which the disciplinary committee also thought when they downgraded the red to a yellow. (22.01.08)

Name Games played Yellow cards Red cards Total
Clos Gómez 11 74 9 83
Lizondo Cortés 10 74 8 82
Muñiz Fernández 12 73 4 77
Velasco Carballo 12 70 5 75
Alvarez Izquierdo 11 59 11 70
Teixeira Vitienes 12 65 4 69
Pérez Lasa 11 62 6 68
Undiano Mallenco 11 64 3 67
Iturralde González 12.5 62 5 67
Daudén Ibáñez 10 62 3 65