Antoine Griezmann’s first La Liga red card was an unusual one.
The French forward started up front for Atletico Madrid on Saturday, when they travelled to Girona for their first league game of the season.
Having fallen behind to a brace from Cristian Stuani, Atletico were desperately chasing the game and Griezmann took it upon himself to attempt to win a penalty with just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock.
Griezmann sprinted to latch on to a teammate’s header when he hit the deck over a challenge from Girona goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/898995679535677440
There was minimal, if any, contact and referee Juan Martinez was of the opinion that the Atletico forward had tried to con him.
The official flashed a yellow card in Griezmann’s direction and the 26-year-old was not too happy with the accusation of simulation.
He approached the referee aggressively and whatever he said, he earned himself an early shower as he was given his marching orders before Atleti pulled two late goals back to salvage a point.
Griezmann booked for diving! And a second yellow for dissent! Red!
— AS USA (@English_AS) August 19, 2017
NOT a second yellow for dissent. Straight red. Our resident lip readers are analysing what must have been a very potty-mouthed outburst…
— AS USA (@English_AS) August 19, 2017
It was initially believed that the first yellow card was for diving and the second was for dissent but it has since been suggested that his comments to the official actually earned him a straight red.
The incident certainly makes Griezmann’s pre-match tweet look like something of a premonition.
🤙🏽😡🤙🏽
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) August 19, 2017
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