We hope you forgive us for concentrating on refereeing performances involving Barcelona and / or Real Madrid, but that’s usually where the big news is! There was controversy involving both teams on Sunday, rookie referee Sánchez Martínez giving Barça a helping hand at Villarreal, and Estrada Fernández getting virtually everything wrong in the match between Madrid and Sevilla later in the evening. Sánchez failed to spot a clear hand ball by Piqué midway through the first half which should have been a second booking and a red card for the international defender, and then awarded a dubious penalty to Neymar after he fell conveniently over the outstretched arm of the diving Sergio Asenjo, who had just pushed the ball out of his reach. No wonder Marcelino was angry, but his side did come back to draw later on. Estrada meanwhile disallowed two perfectly good goals by Bale and Gameiro, both for non-existent offsides, and his penalty decisions involving the locals were questionable, the one he gave for a tackle by Reyes on Modric probably wasn’t, and the one he didn’t give for a shirt-pull by Krychowiak on Benzema probably was. Ah well, it all balances out in the end! (23.03.16)

Name Games played Yellow cards Red cards Total
Iglesias Villanueva 19 134 12 146
Del Cerro Grande 20 129 6 135
Clos Gómez 20 127 7 134
Sánchez Martínez 17 123 8 131
Velasco Carballo 19 121 10 131
González González 20 122 8 130
Gil Manzano 18 115 3 118
Estrada Fernández 19 106 8 114
Fernández Borbolán 18 105 8 113
Alvarez Izquierdo 17 99 12 111