The Spanish top flight is known for its technical skill and some of the most talented footballers of all time have graced its stage over the years. However, it has also featured its fair share of hard men who would never shy away from the physical side of the game, and frequently left their mark on opposing players.
We’re going to take a look at the players with the most red cards in LaLiga history, with the league now nearly 100 years old.
The players with the most red cards in LaLiga history
5. Fernando Hierro – 15 red cards in 497 matches
There are some genuine Spanish football legends who might also be considered among the dirtiest players in LaLiga history. Fernando Hierro is certainly the former, and with 15 red cards in his Spanish top-flight career, he got into a fair bit of trouble with referees throughout his career too.
Hierro made his break into senior football at Real Valladolid where he had a frankly shocking disciplinary record of five red cards in 58 league appearances. Despite his tendency to get on the wrong side of the refs, Real Madrid were not put off and signed the centre-back in 1989.
The Spain international calmed down to some extent during his time at the Bernabeu, but he still picked up a further 10 red cards in LaLiga across his 14 years with Los Blancos.
4. Juanito Rodriguez – 17 red cards in 385 matches
With 17 red cards for five different clubs, Juanito was one of LaLiga’s dirtiest defenders in the latter years of the 20th Century.
His longest spell at any club was his stint at Atletico Madrid between 1990 and 1994 where he picked up over half of his league red cards. Juanito averaged a red card every 13.3 matches during that period, before moving to Sevilla and ultimately CF Extremadura where he retired from football in 2000.
Like Hierro, Juanito was a central defender with an eye for goal, but also no stranger to crossing the line and getting in trouble.
2. Xavi Aguado – 18 red cards in 383 matches
After two seasons in the Segunda Division with Sabadell, Xavi Aguado joined Real Zaragoza in 1990 and went on to enjoy a 13-year stay at La Romareda before hanging up his boots in 2003.
Aguado was a natural leader and an old-school centre-back with strong aerial and physical attributes. However, his physicality certainly crossed the line at times, and he received 21 red cards in all competitions for Zaragoza, with 18 of those coming in LaLiga.
2. Pablo Alfaro – 18 red cards in 417 matches
At one stage in the early 1990s, Aguado was partnered by Zaragoza-born Pablo Alfaro in central defence for Los Blanquillos. The duo would go on to set a joint-record of 18 red cards each in LaLiga by the end of their respective careers, although Alfaro would go on to play for six different clubs after leaving La Romareda in 1992, meaning it was a relatively brief partnership for two of the most carded defenders in Spanish football history.
Alfaro struggled to get regular minutes during spells at Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and he was sent off for neither, with the dirtiest period in his career being his time as a Racing Santander player. He was sent off eight times for the Cantabrian club in 129 LaLiga appearances.
1. Sergio Ramos – 21 red cards in 536 matches
Alfaro and Aguado shared the record for the most red cards in LaLiga for more than a decade, until Sergio Ramos elbowed Athletic Club’s Aritz Aduriz in 2017, moving one clear of both men with his 19th sending-off in the Spanish top flight.
There was still time for one more Ramos red during his long stay at the Santiago Bernabeu, before the Spain legend returned to his boyhood club Sevilla where he was also sent off for a rash challenge on Real Sociedad’s Brais Mendez in 2023.
With 21 red cards across his career in LaLiga, Ramos’ mark will take some beating. The 2010 world champion has been sent off 30 times in his club career in total, and currently plies his trade with Monterrey in Mexico.
Top 10 most red cards in LaLiga history
| Player | Red cards | Clubs |
| Sergio Ramos | 21 | Real Madrid (20), Sevilla (1) |
| Pablo Alfaro | 18 | Racing Santander (8), Sevilla (4), Real Zaragoza (4), Merida (2) |
| Xavi Aguado | 18 | Real Zaragoza |
| Juanito Rodriguez | 17 | Atletico Madrid (9), Real Zaragoza (4), Sevilla (2), Las Palmas (1), CF Extremadura (1) |
| Fernando Hierro | 15 | Real Madrid (10), Real Valladolid (5) |
| Patxi Salinas | 14 | Celta Vigo (8), Athletic Club (6) |
| Alberto Lopo | 14 | Espanyol (8), Deportivo La Coruña (4), Getafe (2) |
| Santi Denia | 13 | Albacete (7), Atletico Madrid (6) |
| Carlos Marchena | 13 | Valencia (8), Villarreal (2), Sevilla (2), Deportivo La Coruña (1) |
| Mauricio Pochettino | 13 | Espanyol |
Ramos is way out ahead in terms of the most red cards in LaLiga history since 2000, with most of the other players to have frequently upset Spanish top-flight refs having long since retired.
Among the players that make up the top 10 for the most red cards is a certain Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine comes across as a relatively mild-mannered coach, but once upon a time he was a long-haired and often aggressive defender who picked up 13 red cards in 276 appearances in LaLiga for Espanyol, at a faster rate than any of the top five.
Carlos Marchena and Alberto Lopo are also names that fans of LaLiga may remember, with both representing Deportivo La Coruña, although most of Marchena’s red cards came for Valencia, while eight of Lopo’s 14 reds came for Espanyol.
Spain’s 2024 Olympics-winning boss Santi Denia and former Athletic defender Patxi Salinas also feature in the top 10.
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