With the end of the March international break comes the endgame of club seasons across the continent. LaLiga looks particularly intriguing, with the Clasico rivals once again going blow for blow and refusing to give an inch.

Atletico can’t be ruled out of the running either, though it’ll take a lot of character to recover from their recent loss to Barcelona, who also won their game in hand (vs Osasuna) on Wednesday evening.

The bottom end also promises much drama too, and though Real Valladolid may already be as good as gone, nobody from 15th down can breathe easy yet.

In turn, cards may soon become an important part of LaLiga bet builders, special offers and any personalised bets. Such a belief is further underlined by the fact that – as mentioned on this blog’s inaugural post – LaLiga was averaging 4.8 cards per game prior to the March 2025 international break.

Unaffected by Barcelona’s midweek win over Osasuna, that is significantly more than any other counterpart within the current group of Europe’s five biggest domestic leagues. Such an average provides encouragement when it comes to backing a higher number of cards when constructing a bet builder.

Bet Builders w/Cards selections

Tip 1: Sociedad v Valladolid (6/1 @ BetVictor)

• Over 5.5 cards
• Valladolid Over 2.5 cards
• Sociedad to win
• BTTS: No
• Oyarzabal 1+ Shots on Target

According to Transfermarkt, both of these teams currently occupy the bottom-five of the discipline table. Each of their matches in the last round produced over 4.5 cards, and if going further back, the two sides have each accounted for at least 50% of the bookings in their last five respective matches.

Valladolid’s games in particular seem to have a penchant for indiscipline, with three of the last five seeing over 5.5 bookings – exactly six each, as a matter of fact. Considering the Pucela’s rock-bottom position in the table and their seemingly impossible gap from safety, they don’t have much to lose.

Tip 2: Betis v Sevilla (23/4 @ BetVictor)

• 1st Half Drawn
• Under 2.5 Goals
• Sevilla Over 2.5 Cards
• Over 4.5 Total Cards
• Odd Total Cards

Betis currently sit joint-third alongside Sociedad in terms of LaLiga red cards (four each), and next up is a Sevilla side that they haven’t beaten in 12 league meetings. September 2018 still marks their most recent top-flight success over the Rojillos, with just a Copa Del Rey victory (in January 2022) their only derby success at all. They’ll also bear the burden of expectation from a vocal  Benito Villamarin faithful, who only become louder under the lights.

October’s reverse fixture certainly didn’t disappoint, with nine bookings that included a second-yellow at the very end. Meanwhile, last season’s corresponding fixture wasn’t far behind, with eight cards overall. Sevilla accounted for a clear majority of the cards on both occasions.

More useful info

Do La Liga derbies produce more cards?

It’s a very good question, and when comparing the last five LaLiga H2H editions of each recognised derby active in the top-flight to the league average for bookings per-game, we get a clearer picture of just how much the likes of Betis and Sevilla hate each other:

• Derbi Barceloní (Barcelona v Espanyol): 7.4 cards per-game
• Seville derby (Real Betis v Sevilla): 7.2
• Derbi de la Comunitat (Valencia v Villarreal): 6.4
• El Otro Clásico (Barcelona v Atlético Madrid): 6.4
• Basque derby (Real Sociedad v Athletic Bilbao): 6.0
• South Madrid derby (Getafe v Leganés): 5.6
• El Clásico (Real Madrid v Barcelona): 5.2
• Madrid derby (Real Madrid v Atlético Madrid): 5.0
• 2024/25 LaLiga average: 4.8

That adds further weight to the argument in favour of picking a high card count for this weekend’s Seville derby. Yet, it’s worth noting that numbers can vary wildly within fixtures, as fights that erupt can see the booking count soar with virtually no warning.

One prominent example is the Barcelona derby in December 2022, when the card count nearly trebled, from five at the 70-minute mark to 14 at FT

As for those who want to pick a specific number of cards or a spread for LaLiga derbies, nearly a quarter (nine) of the 40 fixtures studied produced exactly five cards (only yellows, second-yellows and straight reds counted).

Under the same conditions, the split between even and odd card numbers was almost 50/50 (21 of the 40 games saw odd total card numbers).

Meanwhile, exactly half (20) saw the total cards ranging between 5-7.

Who are the strictest LaLiga referees?

When it comes to strictness, there are different ways to interpret it. However, since this is about bookings, these are the referees to watch out for (Source: Whoscored):

Jorge Figueroa Vazquez

Going into the weekend, he has given an average of 28.65 fouls per-game, and also shares second place with three other referees for reds per-game (0.35) – for the record, Guillermo Fernandez is the most red-happy ref at present (0.42 per-game).

Juan Luis Pulido Santana

Comfortably leads the way for yellow cards per-game (5.50) and lies a close second behind J.F. Vazquez for fouls per-game (28.45). Strangely, though, he’s only pulled the big red one on three occasions in 2024/25.

Mateo Busquets Ferrer

He ranks third for both yellow cards per-game (5.30, behind J.L.P. Santana and Alejandro Muniz Ruiz) and is one of those sharing second place with Vazquez for reds per-game. And perhaps most importantly, he is the designated referee for Betis v Sevilla!