The Spanish league, the leader in Europe in player dismissals

Controversy over red cards rages Spanish football day by day. The ease with which the leaders of the League throw footballers onto the pitch is revealed every weekend. With 28 days played, a record was achieved in the Spanish championship and there is no reason to think that the bleeding will ever stop.

With the recent exclusions of Papa Gueye and Marcos Acuña (Sevilla), Aleix Vidal (Espanyol), Sergio Canales and Aitor Ruibal (Betis) and Florian Lejeune (Rayo), The league already has 112 red cards in 280 games. This is the highest figure at this point since the 2013/2014 season.

The data is even more embarrassing when compared to the rest of the major European leagues, where the number of ejections is clearly lower. The Premier has 28 dismissals in 290 games, four times less than the League. Namely, the reds of Betis, Sevilla and Elche (34) exceed those from the entire English championship. The league also triples the Bundesliga, with 33 red cards in 270 games, and Serie A, with 45 sending offs in 290 games.

It was about this comparison that Cholo Simeone spoke at the end of the match between Rayo Vallecano and Atlético de Madrid: «It is difficult to give an opinion, and it is also dangerous. Referees are there to decide what happens at the beginning of the season. The league is different from Premiere, they cannot be compared. Society is different,” added the Argentine coach after a day with up to six expulsions from the First League.

Spanish referees are characterized by thin skin and exclusion in doubt, and the data confirms this In other leagues, like Premier or Bundesliga, referees talk more, They allow more and give more continuity to the game, which is evident in Spain by their absence.

The shortest effective time

In that sense, La Liga has the lowest effective minutes of the five major leagues, mainly due to the number of stoppages per match. About 54% of real time is played in the Spanish league, compared to 57% in Germany or 56% in England.

Betis are the team with the most sending-offs this season in Europe with 12 in total, following Sergio Canales and Aitor Ruibal’s recent red cards against Cádiz. The Verdiblanco team has Luiz Felipe, sent off three times, and Pezzell and Canales, with two red cards.

As part of this controversy, several teams have decided to formally appeal to Premier League arbitration. Let’s not go any further, the last day of Betis-Cádiz was marked by complaints from the referees before the first whistle. The Verdiblanco club stuffed Benito Villamarín with cardboard with the words “no talking”. A message to the referees in the case of Canales, who was given a caution and was able to play the game despite receiving a four-match ban for claiming his sending-off against Cádiz in the first round was “premeditated”.