Former Real Madrid star Mesut Ozil has taken a dig at rivals Atletico Madrid ahead of the introduction of the new blue card in football.
It was revealed on Thursday that a blue card is set to be introduced in professional football as part of sin-bin trials, marking the first new colour of card widely used in 50 years.
According to The Telegraph , the revolutionary move will be announced by International Football Association Board on Friday as part of new measures that will see players removed from play for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.
The protocols will add a new wrinkle to dismissals as players would now be sent off if they receive two blue cards in a game or a combination of a blue and a yellow.
Given the announcement, former Madrid star Ozil thought he'd take to social media to poke fun at rivals Atletico.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ozil said: 'So Atletico Madrid will only play with 6 players then?'.
The German playmaker spent three full seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu and came up against Atletico on eight occasions - before facing them a ninth and 10th time at Arsenal.
In total, the former Arsenal star won seven out of his eight games against Los Blancos' rivals, during his time in Madrid, and picked up four goals and two assists.
Ozil's comments come after it was confirmed that blue cards, which have been used this season during a sin-bin trial in grassroots football in Wales, were set to be introduced.
The introduction of new cards has already taken place on a smaller scale on the continent, with Portugal recently adopting a new measure to recognise good sportsmanship.
Meanwhile, this isn't the first time that Ozil has taken to social media to poke fun at one of his former side's rivals - having done so as well in December last year.
Ozil rubbed salt into the wounds of Tottenham fans following their 2-1 defeat to West Ham two months ago.
The former Arsenal playmaker responded to a post stating that Spurs are the first side in Premier League history to fail to win five consecutive games despite going 1-0 up in each match.
The stats from OptaJoe also found that they are the first side to lose three consecutive home games despite going a goal up.
Commenting on the tweet, Ozil wrote on X: 'Who else should be able to break that record? Bottle Job FC is back.'