Up until recently, Undiano Mallenco was considered Spain's top referee. And although he has been superceded (at least in the eyes of the powers that be) by Velasco Carballo, the fact that Velasco is from the Madrid college meant that Undiano was given the job of officiating in the latest "clásico" (referees in Spain are not allowed to be in charge of games involving clubs from their region). Undiano is one of La Liga's more moderate umpires, and this time he was given a relatively easy ride in the Nou Camp in a game between two teams who are reaching exhaustion levels this season, and who had little appetite this time around for shenanigans. The only slightly controversial decision was whether Pepe was offside or not in the build up to Khedira's opener, but it seems he called it right, and the goal was allowed to stand. One only hopes that the players have enough fight in them to be able to defend Spain's colours in the Euro finals this summer! (25.04.12)
Name | Games played | Yellow cards | Red cards | Total |
Velasco Carballo | 21 | 155 | 18 | 173 |
Alvarez Izquierdo | 22 | 154 | 11 | 165 |
Paradas Romero | 19 | 149 | 14 | 163 |
Muñiz Fernández | 21 | 144 | 17 | 161 |
Estrada Fernández | 23 | 148 | 7 | 155 |
Iglesias Villanueva | 22 | 142 | 11 | 153 |
Teixeira Vitienes, J.A. | 19 | 143 | 9 | 152 |
Turienzo Alvarez | 19 | 140 | 6 | 146 |
Del Cerro Grande | 21 | 129 | 9 | 138 |
Fernández Borbolán | 21 | 130 | 8 | 138 |