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Fernando Teixeira Vitienes must have been trembling in his boots when he was told he was to referee the return cup tie between Barcelona and Real Madrid, especially when he saw Pepe's name on the teamsheet. Many people thought the Portuguese defender should have been left on the sidelines after the controversy over the stamping incident with Messi (see last week's report), but Mourinho stuck to his guns and included him. In the end however it was not so bad, (at least nobody died!), although there were several debateable decisions (possible penalties by Busquets, Abidal and Pepe, possible red card for Lass, second yellow for Ramos which was maybe too strict, and goal by Ramos disallowed). Mourinho complained, as is his wont, but most of the decisions were correct.

Teixeira's brother José Antonio was in charge of Barcelona at the weekend, this time at Villarreal, and there were some complaints that he could have given a penalty to the locals for a foul by Busquets on Valero. There were incidents at the other end though, in particular a possible hand ball by Musacchio, and although Barça were possibly favoured this time around, in general they protested that refereeing decisions had gone against them recently. Who did have cause to complain though were Mallorca, Iglesias Villanueva sending off Aouate at the beginning of the second half of the game at Espanyol for what he considered was a foul on Rui Fonte. It looked like the keeper got to the ball to clear it beforehand, although the disciplinary committee upheld the referee's decision as the video evidence the club provided in the appeal was not 100% clear. (01.02.12)

Name Games played Yellow cards Red cards Total
Turienzo Alvarez 13 108 3 111
Muñiz Fernández 14 97 10 107
Paradas Romero 13 98 8 106
Iglesias Villanueva 14 91 8 99
Velasco Carballo 13 89 9 98
Teixeira Vitienes, J.A. 13 89 5 94
Iturralde González 12 84 9 93
Alvarez Izquierdo 13 85 5 90
Teixeira Vitienes, F. 16 85 5 90
Pérez Lasa 12 73 9 82