The Daily Rojiblanco: August 22, 2017

• Atlético will challenge referee’s account of Griezmann incident

A report from AS suggests that Atlético Madrid will challenge the match report issued by Juan Martínez Munuera after their opening week draw at Girona.

The club will not challenge the red card Griezmann received for abusive language towards the referee. However, they are taking issue with the yellow that was issued for simulation which led to Griezmann’s subsequent comments. Video of the incident suggests Atlético may have a case, as Girona goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz did not play the ball and made contact with Griezmann. In fairness, though, the France international did make a show of going down.

Atlético have also taken umbrage with Munuera’s decision not to mention that Griezmann apologized to him after the game.

Griezmann is expected to miss the next two matches for his actions, and it is unclear if this challenge constitutes an appeal of the additional match suspension.

• Could Gameiro’s return be imminent?

Mundo Deportivo are reporting that Kévin Gameiro’s return from injury could be coming soon. Given the absence of Griezmann for the next two matches, a return for Gameiro — even in a substitute role — would be very welcome.

Unfortunately, the report is less optimistic about the timeline for left back Filipe Luís, who continues to recover from a muscular issue in his foot.

• Atlético intend to negotiate for Marcos Llorente

AS say that Atlético are interested in signing Real Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente. The 22-year-old spent last season at Alavés and has not figured prominently in Zinedine Zidane’s early-season plans; as such, rumors have persisted that he could be loaned elsewhere in LaLiga. But he is said to be aware of Atleti’s interest in him, and it’s believed that he wants to train under Diego Simeone. Also, his father Paco played one season for Atleti in 1986/87 before going on to win three league titles with Real, and grandfather Ramón Grosso — who played a dozen years at the Santiago Bernabéu — spent part of 1964 on loan at los rojiblancos.

Llorente’s release clause is a cool €200 million, but Atlético believe they can negotiate for him, especially after his name was brought up during negotiations for Theo Hernández (who we don’t need to talk about). The registration ban would preclude the Spain U-21 star from signing now, but the report indicates Atleti may take concrete steps to sign him in January. Stay tuned...

• Juvenil B team downs Real Madrid to win mini tournament

Atlético Madrid’s Juvenil B squad thumped their city rivals to the tune of 3-0 to claim “The Cup”, a small four day youth tournament. Rising star Victor Mollejo notched a goal and was named Man of the Match.

While this is just a small event, it always feels good to beat that other Madrid team, so our young guns deserve a round of applause.

• Talking Point: I’ve touched on this before, but coming off a weekend where there were a number of debatable refereeing decisions (see above) the topic of Video Assistant Referee is being bandied about. Given recent roll outs of VAR in Serie A, the Bundesliga and MLS, is it time for LaLiga to follow suit? Let us know in the comments!