Two of Spain's most promising young keepers were sent off this weekend, Barcelona's Víctor Valdés getting his marching orders after scrambling to recover a lost ball with his hands from Valencia's Angulo just outside of the area, and Real Sociedad's Riesgo having to take the long walk after giving away a penalty against Getafe's Pachón. That gave an opportunity for two keepers to make their league debuts this season, Rubén and Alberto coming on for the last quarter of an hour or so in their respectively games. Riesgo can claim a clean sheet before he went off, leaving poor old Alberto to pick the ball out of the net after the resulting penalty went past him.

There were in all five full clean sheets (not counting Riesgo's) in another relatively low scoring weekend. Espanyol's Kameni extended his lead at the top of the table after his side drew 0-0 at Juanma's Numancia, and and Aranzubia, Leo Franco and Reina were all on the winning teams as they kept their goals against columns to zero. Cañizares let in his first goal for six games, although it took a controversial Ronaldinho penalty to beat him in the end. (20.12.04)