| Rodríguez Santiago started things off early this
week, with a controversial performance on Friday night's match between the two
Deportivos, La Coruña and Alavés. With less than a quarter of an
hour gone he awarded a penalty and sent off the home side's Naybet for a foul
on Javi Moreno in the area, and later in the game he awarded two more
penalties, this time to La Coruña. The match ended with a mini-riot as
the two sides clashed on two occasions, with yellow cards flying faster than
the handbags. Pérez Burrull also upset the Real Madrid fans after
turning down two penalty appeals from the home side which were fairly valid and
giving one to Espanyol which seemed a bit harsh after the ball hit Hierro on
the arm as he slid in for a tackle. That earned the Spanish international a
second yellow card, and neither he nor Helguera will be available for Madrid's
local derby at Rayo. Pérez Burrull was escorted off the pitch by police.
The real problems though came in the second division, where three clubs,
Recreativo, Tenerife and Betis, all claimed that referees were ganging up
against them to help Atlético Madrid win promotion to the first
division. The collective paranoia came about after both Recreativo and Tenerife
had goals disallowed in the last minutes of their games by Téllez
Sánchez and Rubinos Pérez respectively which would have given
them victory, and there was crowd trouble at both grounds afterwards. Betis
lost to Albacete after Moreno Delgado failed to spot the ball going out of play
when the visitors scored the winner. Atlético's chairman Jesús
Gil replied that his horse had more intelligence than the three club presidents
put together. (14.05.01) |
