Costa's sanction, the biggest since Pepe's

Diego Costa has been sanctioned by the Competition Committee of the Royal Spanish Federation with eight games, four for insulting and offending the referee Jesus Gil Manzano during the dispute of Barcelona-Atletico de Madrid of the 31st round of LaLiga, and four others for grabbing him "with slight violence" after seeing the red card.

In Spanish football there was no similar episode, in terms of the severity of the penalty, since 2009, when the Portuguese defender of Real Madrid Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira Ferreira 'Pepe', attacked Javier Casquero in a Real Madrid-Getafe and was punished with ten matches without playing.

The highest sanction to date dates back to the 1964/1965 season, when Zaragoza defender Joaquín Cortizo was punished with 24 games for a hard tackle on Atletico Madrid player Enrique Collar, causing a fracture in his left leg.

In 1974 the Paraguayan centre-back of Granada Pedro Fernandez was sanctioned with fifteen rounds without jumping on the pitch for a hard entry over the Madrid player Amancio in a quarter-final round of the Copa del Rey.

Andoni Goikoetxea received eighteen penalty matches for a challenge on Argentina's Diego Armando Maradona in a game played on 24 September 1983 in San Mames, although in the end the sanction was reduced to seven.

Goikoetxea and Maradona were also protagonists in the field fight that took place during the final of the Copa del Rey (Athletic-Barcelona) of the 83/84 course. Both of them, along with Clos and Migueli on the culé side, and Sarabia and Andrés on the red-and-white side, received a three-month sanction.

Germán 'El Mono' Burgos missed eleven games when he was playing in Mallorca for attacking Espanyol striker Manuel Serrano, while José María Ceballos, goalkeeper like Burgos, was suspended for eleven rounds after a header threat to the referee Prados García.

Other more recent controversial aggressions, and which involved only five days of sanction, were the ones by Roberto 'Toro' Acuña and Cesar Láinez on Villarreal fans in El Madrigal on May 5, 2002.

Another player to recieve the same sanction in 2005 was the sevillista Javi Navarro by an elbow on the Venezuelan Juan Arango, who fell to the ground, unconscious, and suffered a respiratory problem and spasms on the pitch as a result of the blow.

Aditionally, the zaragozista Carlos Diogo and the sevillista Luis Fabiano got into a brawl on the field in January 2007 for which they were punished with five games each.

Two years ago, in 2017, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was sanctioned for five games in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona, one for being sent off and four for lightly pushing the referee.

The biggest difference between a sanction imposed by Competition and the subsequent rectification after going through an appeal occurred in the case of Barcelona's Bulgarian player Hristo Stoickhov. The striker was initially removed for six months from the pitch after intentionally stepping on the foot of the referee Urizar Azpitarte during the first leg of the Supercup of 90-91. After an appeal, the sanction  was reduced to two months and two games.

Chronology of the highest sanctions against players in Spanish football:

1964.- The Zaragoza right-back of the "five magnificent" Joaquín Cortizo was punished with 24 games by a hard tackle on the player of Atlético de Madrid Enrique Collar who caused the fracture of his left leg.

1974: The Paraguayan centre-back of Granada, Pedro Fernández was punished with fifteen rounds without playing after a hard tackle on Amancio in a quarter-final of Copa del Rey.

1977: The player of Burgos, López Igartúa was sanctioned with 10 games for assaulting the referee Fernández Quirós.

1983.- The Paraguayan player of Betis "Lobo" Diarte was sanctioned with 10 games for an aggression to the Sevilla player Ruda.

1983.- The Athletic de Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea was sanctioned with 18 suspension matches after his tackle against the Argentine Diego Armando Maradona in a League match played in San Mamés. The appeal reduced the punishment to seven games.

1984 - Maradona, Clos and Migueli, from Barcelona, and Goikoetxea, De Andrés and Sarabia, from Athletic Bilbao, were sanctioned with three months suspension after the incidents that occurred at the conclusion of the final of the Copa del Rey, when players from both teams got into a fight with kicks and punches.

1990 - Barcelona's Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoickhov was removed from the competition for six months after stamping his foot on the referee Urizar Azpitarte during the first leg of the Super Cup between his team and Real Madrid. The sanction was reduced to two months and two games on appeal.

1999: Argentinian goalkeeper Germán "El Mono" Burgos was suspended for eleven games when he was playing in Mallorca, after attacking Espanyol striker Manuel Serrano.

2000.- Twelve games of sanction to the goalkeeper of the Racing of Santander José María Ceballos after a  header to the referee Prados García. The appeal reduced the punishment to eight games.

2009.- Pepe, defender of Real Madrid, punished with 10 games for his aggressions to the players of Getafe, Casquero and Albín during a league match.

2015.- Twelve matches to the player of the CD El Palo, of Second B, Antonio Galdeano 'Apoño', ex-player of Málaga and Zaragoza for the serious insults and death threats that he made against the referee of the match that faced his team with Marbella.

2017.- Five suspension matches to the Portuguese forward of Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo, after being expelled in the first leg of the Supercup against Barcelona. One match was for the expulsion and the other four by a slight push to the referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoechea.

2018.- Eight suspension matches to Leganés' kit man, Juan Domínguez, expelled in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid, after repeatedly insulting the referee team.