Atletico Madrid forward and Spanish International Diego Costa has been slammed with an eight-match ban for insulting a referee. The former Chelsea man is getting the ban after he was reported to have challenged referee’s decision during the game between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in which they lost.
Diego Costa as reported by the LaLiga disciplinary committee, will be banned for four matches for his misbehaviour towards officials in that game, which the committee described as ‘insults’. The other four are for grabbing the official’s arm after he had been shown the red card. This is with immediate effect, pending when an appeal is filed by the management of Atletico Madrid.
Diego Costa who is not a stranger to all of these, was also handed with a fine of 6,010 euros while his club Atletico will pay 2,800 euros
According to the report by Marca, the officials of that game had reported on their game report that Diego Costa used the F word, and after his red card refused to leave the pitch. He was also accused of grabbing the arm of the referee in order to prevent him from showing cards to his teammates.
The disciplinary committee had based their decision on the match report by the referee of that game, and while they have hit the Spaniard with an outrageous eight-match ban, the player and the club are entitled to appeal the ban that could be carried over into next season.