Diego Costa faces EIGHT-match ban after his red card vs Barcelona

Diego Costa could be banned until next season after being sent off against Barcelona on Saturday.

The Atletico Madrid striker was shown a red card after less than half an hour at the Nou Camp for insulting the referee's mother.

Official Gil Manzano's claimed Costa yelled: "I s*** on your f**** mother, I s*** on your f**** mother."

And he could now be slapped with an eight-match ban according to reports in Spain.

That would see him miss the remaining seven games of this La Liga season, and the first of the next campaign.

Barca had struggled to break down a fiercely competitive Atletico long after Costa had been sent off but Luiz Suarez finally beat keeper Jan Oblak in the 85th minute.

aptain Lionel Messi scored a minute later to secure a 2-0 win and the 90,000 Barca fans crammed into the Nou Camp began to chant "champions" as they sensed they were closing in on an eighth domestic title in 11 years.

"Today we didn't just take one step, we took two steps forward, we obviously have a very big advantage now but there are still some games to go and it could still get difficult," Suarez told reporters.

"This was another game which shows just how hard it is to win the league and we deserve a lot of credit for what we're achieving."

Defeat by Atletico would have trimmed Barca's lead to five points and coach Ernesto Valverde underlined the importance of the victory.

"These three points were very important, we still have to finish the job but today's game was fundamental and could mean a lot," Valverde said.

"We're very happy because we know exactly what Atletico are, an enormous team who scrapped until the end with 10 men. We were giving everything and Luis' goal was like a shot of adrenaline."