Clos Gómez was the man designated to keep the peace in the midweek cup tie between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, and he had a difficult call to make when Sergio Ramos pulled down Raúl García in the area early on in the second half. Seeing the replays afterwards, it seems García was holding on to his opponent’s shirt in a 50/50 tussle, but then Ramos tipped over the midfielder and they both fell to the ground. The pundits were fairly divided, but Clos awarded the spot kick, and Atleti converted that and went on to win 2-0.

Simeone’s side were also involved in another big match at the weekend, this time Undiano Mallenco in charge of their league game at Barcelona. There were controversial decisions both ways, Messi clearly controlling the ball with his arm in the build up to the second goal which was scored by Luis Suárez, Giménez getting away scot-free with a vicious tackle on Neymar which left the striker with a bloody ankle, and Gámez being awarded a penalty when he fell under Messi’s challenge, even though there didn’t appear to be much, if any, contact. Barça went on to win 3-1.

Elsewhere a goal by Elche’s Víctor Rodríguez at the San Mamés stadium was also allowed to stand by Iglesias Villanueva after he too controlled the ball with his arm in the play, a vital strike as the visitors won 1-2 to move off the bottom of the table. It was too much for Athletic’s Muniain, who told the referee after the final whistle “that’s another game that you f***ed up for us”! That f***ed it up for him too, Iglesias reported it and the young lad has been given a two match ban. Sometimes it’s better just to bottle it up and take it out on the furniture afterwards! (14.01.15)

Name Games played Yellow cards Red cards Total
Alvarez Izquierdo 11 91 4 95
Jaime Latre 12 86 5 91
Estrada Fernández 12 84 6 90
Velasco Carballo 11 81 3 84
Teixeira Vitienes, F. 11 71 8 79
Mateu Lahoz 11 66 5 71
Hernández Hernández 13 69 2 71
Fernández Borbolán 12 64 4 68
Gil Manzano 11 65 2 67
González González 11 65 2 67