It didn’t take long for Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone to anger the Spanish Football Federation. The manager was already suspended for their first league game match against Rayo today for an accumulation of bookings which carried over from last season. Now, after his altercation with the referee in last week's second leg of the Spanish Super Cup, the Atleti skipper will be suspended eight more games.
Simeone will miss four Spanish league matches, with the other four matches applied to future Spanish Super Cups.
The fiery manager was ejected in the 25th minute after he voiced outrage that defender Juanfran Torres had not been allowed to return to the pitch after being treated on the sidelines. Torres had a cut on his lip that bloodied his jersey and was waiting to reenter the match. Simeone was suspended four games for tapping the back of the assistant referee's head, two games for protesting, one game for applauding his sending off and one game for remaining in the stands instead of going into the locker room after his ejection. Here is a video of the altercation:
It doesn’t look bad, but touching the referee on the back of the head is asking for some sort of disciplinary action. Simeone was fined €4,805 and it seems that the team won’t appeal the suspension. On Sunday Simeone said, “When you make a mistake, it is right to pay for it”.
Simeone's suspension will begin August 30th against Eibar and he will miss games against Real Madrid, Celta Vigo and Almeria. He will also miss the first game of the Champion's League this season due to another suspension he gained in last year's UCL final.
