FC Barcelona hit a new low on Saturday as they were trounced 2-0 by Atletico Madrid while the Catalan club’s boss Ronald Koeman watched on from the stands after being red-carded in the previous game.

The Barcelona boss looked helpless and animated as ever as Diego Simeone’s side outwitted and outplayed the Catalan side on all quarters. Koeman was serving the second of a two-game ban for protesting the refereeing in a draw at Cádiz.

Meanwhile, striker Luis Suarez enjoyed his own redemption arc as he scored against his former club and then went to celebrate with a ‘phone call’ gesture. Last summer, the Uruguayan forward was ousted by Barca after Koeman, reportedly, informed Suarez over a phone call that he was no more needed at the club.

Also Read | PL: Townsend cheekily imitates Ronaldo as Everton draw at Man Utd

After Thomas Lemar, with a perfectly weighted ball, set up Suarez for Atleti’s second goal of the game, the camera swiftly cut to Koeman in the box in the Wanda Metropolitano stands, hands buried in his face, sporting a disgruntled look. Speculations around the Dutch manager’s future has been on the rise after the shock 0-3 defeat to Benfica in midweek. However, earlier in the day, the club president, Joan Laporta, backed the manager and said Koeman would stay at Barca irrespective of the result against Atleti.

Meanwhile, for the first goal, Lemar combined with Suarez as the Uruguayan threaded a through ball through the Barca defence and the Frenchman latched onto it and raced past the centre-backs to smash it home past keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. 

The first goal by Lemar caused Koeman to throw up his hands. After Suárez’s second, he could only rub his eyes before he picked up his phone to presumably give more orders to assistant Alfred Schreuder in the dugout.

Also Read | Paul Riley sexual misconduct case: All we know so far

Ahead of the match, Koeman opted for a five-man midfield, with Gavi, Sergio Busquets, Nicolas Gonzalez, Frenkie de Jong and Philippe Coutinho all starting. Memphis Depay started out as a striker. 

Meanwhile, for Atleti, Suarez and Joao Felix started up front, while Antoine Griezmann made a substitute appearance. Felix outwitted the Barca defence on multiple occasions with his runs from deep. Although the Catalan club enjoyed a lion’s share of possession, they failed to breach the Atleti wall. 

“They scored two goals with very little effort, while we could have kept on playing for three hours and not score a goal,” Barcelona’s Gerard Pique said, according to Associated Press inputs. “We are suffering, honestly. These are difficult times, and many of us on the team have never been through this.”

Atletico moved into second place, level on points with leader Real Madrid before its game at Espanyol on Sunday.

Barcelona is in ninth place at five points behind the top two. Koeman’s side has only won three of nine matches in all competitions this season, its first without Messi in nearly two decades.