Costa Handed Eight-Game Ban

Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa has had his season brought to a premature end after he was slapped with an eight-match suspension.

Spain international Costa was shown a straight red card in the 2-0 defeat to Barcelona last week after making expletive remarks to referee Gil Manzano and the Spanish authorities have now taken action.

The 30-year-old was handed a four-game ban for the comments made to the official, while a further four matches were added to the suspension for grabbing the referees arm during the aftermath of the dismissal.

Atleti, who slipped 11 points behind the Catalans as a result of the defeat, can appeal the ruling although it is unlikely they will take up this option due to the compelling evidence against their striker.

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Costa will not feature again this season and his brief outing against Barcelona could turn out to be the last for Los Rojiblancos, who are reportedly considering whether to sell the former Chelsea star in the summer.

Since returning to Madrid in January 2018, the Lagarto-born star has only managed to score five goals from 31 La Liga appearances.