The game between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid took a dramatic turn after Diego Costa was given a red card early in the first half.
Barcelona are playing Atletico Madrid in a significant clash in La Liga.
A win would all but seal a second consecutive league title for the Catalan giants. However, Atletico Madrid would aim to derail their campaign by closing the gap to five points with a win over Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Diego Simeone’s side, although, faced a huge setback quite early in the game. Diego Costa, the Atletico Madrid striker, was given a red card for dissent towards the referee.
The Brazilian forward failed to take charge over his emotions as he took on the referee on his face, seemingly mouthing him off.
The referee had no alternative but to give him a straight red card. Diego Costa continued to push the referee, as other Atletico Madrid players joined in to protest. It turned into a rather heated exchange between the referee, and the players of Barcelona and Atletico.
The visiting side’s goalkeeper, Jan Oblak had to interfere and take Diego Costa off referee’s face, while Barcelona defender Gerard Pique consoled Costa as he sent accompanied him to the goal-line to protect him from further action.
Here’s the full video of the incident:
Here’s how Twitter reacted..
What next?
By the time of the publishing of this article, both the sides are without a goal in the game.
After the game against Atletico, Barcelona will return to action on Tuesday night as they take on Manchester United in a heavyweight Champions League quarterfinal. The side faced defeats in their last three quarterfinal ties and will aim to end the disappointing run this season.
