Diego Simeone has been handed a three-game touchline ban in La Liga following an incident last weekend when an extra ball was thrown on to the pitch during Atlético Madrid’s match at home against Málaga.
The coach will be in the dugout when his team take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night. But, as his side go neck and neck with Barcelona and Real Madrid in the promotion race, he will miss the remaining league games against Rayo Vallecano, Levante and Celta Vigo.
Atlético beat Málaga through a deflected goal by the substitute Ángel Correa in the 62nd minute but before that their coach had been banished to the stand.
Just before the interval, a ball had been thrown on the pitch from the Atlético technical area while Málaga set off on a counterattack, threatening to disrupt the play. Television images suggested that a ball boy was responsible but under the regulations it is down to the coach to monitor what happens around his technical area.
The referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz asked Simeone who was responsible and sent him off after reportedly not getting an answer.
The Argentinian said afterwards he had no problem with the referee’s decision. “It’s clear that the referee made the right decision as per the regulations,” he said.
“He did what he had to do. There’s little more that can be said. The images will show it was a boy beside me, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
Simeone is no stranger to lengthy bans. He was given an eight-match suspension in August 2014 when Atléti beat Real Madrid in the Super Cup.
He got four games for tapping the back of a linesman’s head, two games for protesting, one game for applauding his sending-off and one game for remaining in the stands instead of leaving the stadium after his sending-off.
