Gil Manzano is considered to be one of Spain’s best up-and-coming young referees, but he had a bad day at work on Sunday in Sevilla, where he was in charge of the match between Betis and Athletic Bilbao. With half an hour gone Gil turned down a penalty appeal by the locals, booking Rubén Castro for diving (later cancelled by the disciplinary committee on appeal), but just a couple of minutes later he awarded one to the visitors for a foul which was marginally outside of the area! After that he sent off local players Perquis and Lolo Reyes for second bookable offences (correct, but maybe a bit harsh?) and waved away another penalty claim by Betis after Balenziaga handled in the area. He did however favour the home side once, ruling out a Kike Sola strike for a non-existent offside! The performance didn’t go unnoticed though by the referees’ own disciplinary committee, and he was politely asked to step in to the proverbial “fridge”, the match he had been scheduled to arbitrate next weekend handed over to another official. We are sure he will have better days! (26.02.14)

Name Games played Yellow cards Red cards Total
Teixeira Vitienes, J.A. 18 138 12 150
Fernández Borbolán 19 116 7 123
González González 19 106 8 114
Mateu Lahoz 16 101 7 108
Muñiz Fernández 15 97 6 103
Clos Gómez 19 98 5 103
Iglesias Villanueva 16 93 6 99
Teixeira Vitienes, F. 15 89 9 98
Alvarez Izquierdo 16 88 7 95
Estrada Fernández 16 84 6 90