Atletico Madrid knew they’d need to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Saturday evening to stand any chance of winning La Liga this season.They went into the fixture eight points behind the Catalan giants with as many games left to play.However, Diego Costa left his team with an uphill struggle on the half-hour mark when he was shown a straight red by referee Jesus Gil.Atletico had survived a couple of earlier scares before Costa’s sending off.Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho both spurned great opportunities to score for the hosts.

This must have made it even more infuriating for Atletico boss Diego Simeone that Costa got himself sent off for dissent.

While the ball was still in play, Gil blew his whistle, marched over to Costa and showed the Spanish striker a red card.

It’s currently unclear what Costa said - but it must have been something awful to warrant a straight red.

Gerard Pique escorted Costa off the pitch.

Simeone, meanwhile, couldn’t even bring himself to look at his number 19, who returned to Atleti from Chelsea in January 2018.

Watch the incident here…

There were suggestions in the Catalan media that Costa insulted Gil's mother, and this was later confirmed by the referee's full-time report.

It hasn't been a good season for Costa - he’s only managed to score one league goal this term - and this latest incident won’t have done him any favours.

The 30-year-old has let himself down time and time again with his hot-headedness and you can guarantee that Simeone will come down on him like a ton of bricks.