Atletico Madrid's Mario Hermoso was caught up in a serious altercation with his own fans after Diego Simeone's side lost 2-0 to Villarreal.

Atleti produced a disappointing performance and suffered a 2-0 loss at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Yeremy Pino gave the away team the lead with less than 20 minutes remaining. Then, deep into stoppage time, Nahuel Molina was sent off for violent conduct before Gerard Moreno sealed the victory for Villarreal.

The performance - and the result - left the home fans pretty angry inside the Wanda.

And that anger led to a confrontation with Hermoso at full time.

Videos have emerged of fans abusing the Atleti defender, calling him a Madridista son of a b**ch. For context, Hermoso spent nine years at the Real Madrid academy before going on to represent their C and B sides.

And it's fair to say Hermoso didn't take to the insult too kindly.

He attempted to fight the Atleti fans, claiming into the stands to do so. He eventually had to be held back in pretty shocking scenes.

VIDEO: Mario Hermoso tries to fight Atletico Madrid fans

It was a pretty wretched evening for Atletico Madrid.

They had started their La Liga campaign positively with a 3-0 victory away to Getafe.

An Alvaro Morata brace and Antoine Griezmann scored during that convincing victory.

But the first home game of the 2022/23 campaign certainly didn't go to plan.

It's been a difficult week for Atleti with many of their first-team stars being linked with a move away from the club at this late stage of the transfer window.

Matheus Cunha and Joao Felix have been linked with moves to Manchester United while Morata has also been touted with a move away.

Meanwhile, there has been speculation about the futures of Antoine Griezmann, Yannick Carrasco, Marcos Llorente and Renan Lodi.

And ahead of the Villarreal game, Simeone called for the transfer window to close before the start of the season.

"It would be good for managers [if the window closed earlier]," Simeone said.

"I don't know about agents and clubs!

"For us it would be good to start with the players we have and know that they'll be with the team all year, or at least with a break in January. While [the market] stays open, all this [speculation] happens."