Thomas Partey believes Diego Costa’s eight-match ban is unfair

Ghana international Thomas Partey has said that the eight-match ban given to Diego Costa seems unfair. The Atletico Madrid striker was handed a straight-red card during the recent league defeat to Barcelona on the roadafter he was found bad-mouthing about the mother of referee Jesus Gil Manzano.

As such, La Liga sanctioned an eight-game suspension for the Spain international, but his teammate Thomas believes the punishment is unfair and Atletico should appeal against the decision, he said: “I just heard it, I think it's too much. I think it's too much, it isn't fair and I hope we talk to them and they lower their sanction, because of the circumstances. Everything depends on the occasion and everyone has their own ways of doing things, maybe he has not acted well here, but for me, there are too many games for him and for the whole team.”

“Atletico had a slender chance of competing for the title until last weekend“ where they could have reduced the deficit between them and Barcelona to five points. However, the sending off of Costa “during the first period“ did not help their cause and they eventually suffered a 2-0 defeat with late strikes from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

With the outcome, they are now 11 points behind the Catalan giants with seven games to play and the holders could wrap up the title by the end of the month. Meanwhile, Atletico have experienced a tough season by their standards despite the meaningful spending in the transfer market and it remains to be seen whether they can close the gap with the addition of quality recruits ahead of next term. Atleti are scheduled to face Celta Vigo at the weekend and Diego Simeone will be hoping that his side can come up with maximum points as they seek to beat Real Madrid to the runner-up position.