There have been more straight red cards in La Liga this season than any other of Europe’s top five leagues – but which team should get the most?
Red card advantage bets
Odds
Sevilla to beat Mallorca
Barcelona to beat Las Palmas and over 3.5
Sociedad to beat Leganes
Odds courtesy of 1xBet. Correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
What happens when you combine two teams with two of the worst disciplinary records in La Liga? Well, we are about to find out. There could be fireworks when Sevilla play host to Mallorca on Monday.
In fairness, the hosts have been relatively well-behaved lately – all five of their red cards came in the space of three months last year. One of them was, however, against the Mallorcans, who have received more dismissals (6) than anyone else in the league. On top of that, the two clubs have picked up 110 bookings between them so far.
While neither club received any of the six reds shown in La Liga last weekend, there were 11 yellow cards shown in their respective fixtures. Their games tend to be feisty, even when 22 men manage to stay on the field. Sevilla should come out on top here.
If you want to look at the card market for this one, over 4.5 is likely a safe bet. Sevilla games, on average, see 5.7 per game, while Mallorca’s see 4.7 – and in terms of the result, the hosts are the favourites at 2.12.
There have been 52 La Liga dismissals across the course of 2024/25, substantially more than the Premier League (34), Bundesliga (35) and Ligue 1 (44). Serie A beat them by one, sitting at 53, but when it comes to straight red cards, the Spaniards dominate. A total of 38 players have been directly dismissed, nine more than Ligue 1 (29) and over twice the number in the Premier League (15).
Of all the red cards, however, only one player has been given a straight red card twice. The player in question? Mallorca’s Vedat Muriqi.
Real Valladolid’s Mario Martin, meanwhile, is the only other to have been sent off on two separate occasions – though one was for a second yellow card. This means that 50 different La Liga players have been sent off this season so far.
As for bookings, Deportivo Alaves’ Abdel Abqar leads with 11 yellow cards shown so far. Closely behind him is Las Palmas’ midfielder, Yvan Neyou, with 10. In total, Los Amarillos have been shown 71 up to now. The most yellow-carded team, however, are Getafe, with 73 bookings and somehow only one red.
Given Las Palmas’ penchant for yellow cards – with an average of 3.8 per game – they should struggle against Barcelona. They have only had two dismissals this season, but could struggle against an in-form Blaugrana.
Two of the sides that were shown red cards over the weekend face off on Sunday evening. Leganes, one of only two sides to be given five straight reds, take on Real Sociedad, who had two sent off last time out. Could they face more disciplinary issues when they go head-to-head?
Between them, they have had eight players sent off in 2024/25, and they have been shown 109 yellows along the way, so sparks could fly. Sociedad will be without both Igor Zubeldia and Sheraldo Becker following their dismissals, which could hand the away side an advantage. The visitors are at 7.50 on 1xBet to be victorious.
Despite their two absentees, Leganes’ form has really dipped of late, and the hosts are still favourites – Munir’s suspension will make it even harder. Expect Txuri-Urdin to get the job done.