Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone suspended eight matches

Diego Simeone has been suspended eight matches by the Spanish football federation for his outburst during the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa. Now Atletico Madrid are set to start the season without their manager, who guided them to the league title a year ago.

Simeone was sent off in the 25th minute of the match on Friday when he argued that Juanfran should be let back on the pitch immediately after changing his shirt that had been bloodied. The manager’s constant protestations saw him ejected from the touchline and after the match, he acknowledged that discipline was likely coming. He probably did not imagine it being an eight-match ban though.

The federation said that Simeone was suspended four matches for tapping the assistant referee’s head, two for arguing, one for applauding as he was sent off and one for watching the remainder of the match from the stands. He will serve a four-match suspension in the league, while the other half of the suspension will be for future Super Cup games. Simeone also served a ban for a previous offense on Monday, so he will miss the first five league games of Atleti’s season.

With Simeone set to be missing well into September, German Burgos will be Atleti’s manager on matchday and Simeone told reporters on Monday that he will look into ways for him to communicate with the team on matchday.

“We’ll try to find the best way to communicate. Germán has the capacity and confidence; it gives me peace of mind that we understand football in the same way. He will sit on the bench and I will see it from another place.”