Quite a weekend on the card front, with no less than 74 yellows and ten reds in all. Four of those came on Saturday, with Xerez players Alustiza and Orellana both getting sent off in the final minutes of the match at the Nou Camp (although Orellana was let off a one match ban on appeal). A couple of hours later Zaragoza's Contini got his marching orders for elbowing Higuaín in the chest, sparking off a strange reaction which saw the player clutch his face! Funny how that happens a lot in Spain! And in the last game, Valencia's Baraja had to go after he was booked late on against Deportivo, and then told the referee "what a sh*t of a card you just showed me!". "You don't like that one, then here's another one in a different colour" we suppose the referee must have told him!

On Sunday Sporting's Maldonado was sent off with a straight red and Valladolid's Del Horno with a second yellow in the same incident five minutes from the end, and Sporting assistant coach Tejada was also sent to the stands a few minutes earlier for "hiding the ball behind his back when it went out of play"! Not really likely mate, his side were only drawing at home at the time! Málaga's Stepanov got his marching orders in the first half at Mallorca for handling the ball in front of goal, and Sevilla's Kanouté took the long walk for a second bookable offence. Espanyol's Nico Pareja was also given a second booking at Almería as players exchanged words and more at the end of the game, but the disciplinary committee agreed he wasn't really involved and cancelled his one match suspension. Not that it mattered much as his first yellow card was his tenth of the season, and he gets a one game ban anyway!

Pareja will be joined in the stands by another ten players who all completed the five yellow card cycles, including his team mate Forlín (10 bookings) and three from Xerez, Aythami (10), Casado (10) and Gioda (5), as well as Crusat (Almería - 10), Crespo and Diop (both Racing - 5), David Silva (Valencia - 5), Pedro López (Valladolid - 5) and Eliseu (Zaragoza - 5). (27.04.10)