Atlético Madrid forward Ángel Correa has been handed a five-game ban for insulting the referee after being sent off in the club’s 2-1 defeat at Getafe on Sunday.

Correa was red-carded in the 88th minute of the LaLiga game for a challenge on defender Djené Dakonam, before Atlético surrendered a 1-0 lead, conceding two goals in four minutes in a major blow to their title hopes.

The Argentina international reacted to being sent off with an X-rated rant at referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernández, for which he later apologised on social media.

On Wednesday, the Spanish football federation’s disciplinary commitee sanctioned Correa with a total five-game suspension: one game for the sending off, and another four for insulting the official.

Correa will now be unavailable for Atlético in a series of key games in LaLiga and the Copa del Rey.

He will miss Sunday’s top-of-the-table league clash with Barcelona, followed by a league game at Espanyol, and then another high-stakes game with Barça in their Copa semifinal second leg.

He will then be unavailable against Sevilla and Real Valladolid in LaLiga, with Atlético a point behind Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table.

Cuadra Fernández’s report said that Correa had called him “son of a thousand wh–es” and “a wimp.”

In a post on X on Sunday, Correa apologised, saying “my respect for referees is total” and admitting that he had “reacted in the worst way” in a “delicate moment.”

The disciplinary committee found that the “pressure” and “nerves of the situation could not justify or excuse the player’s insults.

The ban will not apply in the Champions League, where Atlético host Real Madrid at the Metropolitano on Wednesday in their round-of-16 second leg.