So let’s begin with the man in question - Roque Santa Cruz - who twice came on as a second-half sub for Malaga in the past seven days.
First he played the last half-hour of the 2-1 win over Real Valladolid as Malaga stayed third in La Liga, then he played the last 20 minutes of the 1-0 Uefa Champions League win over AC Milan.
So things going well for the likeable Paraguyan.
Abdul Razak played the first-half of Charlton’s 1-0 home defeat to Barnsley before being substituted and then had to watch the 1-1 draw with Leeds from the bench as an unused sub.
Staying in the Championship, Wayne Bridge’s Brighton lost back-to-back games against Middlesbrough and Leicester - both by a score of 1-0. Bridge played the full 90 minutes on each occasion but the Seagulls’ lack of goals led to manager Gus Poyet claiming he was “bored” of the goal drought!
In League One, Reece Wabara played in Oldham Athletic’s 2-0 win over Leyton Orient last weekend, but also in the 3-1 loss at Carlisle where Paul Dickov apologised to the Latics’ travelling fans following an abject display.
Emyr Huws was on the losing side, too, as Northampton Town went down 1-0 at home to Bradford City.
In Scotland, Ryan McGivern’s Hibs went down 3-2 to struggling Ross County. McGivern played the entire game but Hibs drop to fourth in the SPL as a result.
In Holland, Dedryck Boyata played for 75 minutes of FC Twente’s 1-1 draw with struggling Roda JC, though Steve McClaren’s side remain top of the Eredivisie by one point.
Omar Elabdellaoui played for just 11 minutes after coming on as a late sub for Feyenoord who recovered from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against VVV and Abdi Ibrahim was subbed at half-time as Stromgodset drew 1-1 with Molde.
Finally, back in La Liga, Mohammed Abu played 58 minutes of Rayo Vallecano’s 3-2 defeat to previously bottom Espanyol.
