Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin may face punishment after being caught on camera spitting in retaliation at Alaves centre-forward Deyverson late in Saturday afternoon's 0-0 La Liga draw.
A tired-looking Atletico slipped further out of the title race with an under-par performance at Mendizorrotza, with Miguel Angel Moya his team's best performer over the 90 minutes.
The game ended with an apparent "mutual" spitting incident, which began after Godin had been booked for raising his arm in an aerial challenge with Deyverson. The pair continued to clash as they awaited the resulting free kick, and TV images showed the Alaves player first appear to spit in Godin's face, and the Uruguayan reacting in kind.
Although the match officials appeared to miss the incident amid pushing and shoving from both sides, La Liga authorities may decide to hand out a restrospective ban, however it seems unlikely that Godin will miss Wednesday's Copa del Rey semifinal first leg against Barcelona at the Calderon.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone did not refer to the incident at his postmatch news conference after what was a disappointing day for his side, who are now facing a battle for fourth spot and the final Champions League qualification place.
However, he admitted that his team had been out-battled and beaten for intensity.
"We did not play a good game," Simeone said. "Alaves were superior in intensity, on the second balls. We defended and we are taking a point which is better than the football which was on show. Alaves played the game they had to play. They were strong in the air. It was a bad game in general. When you play like this you have to look forward, and aim to train and improve."
Simeone also admitted that his current team no longer played with a big imposing No. 9 up front, but looked to impose themselves on the match in other ways.
"When we had [Mario] Mandzukic or [Diego] Costa we could use the players we had in aerial challenges," he said. "Now we have different types of forwards and we look to respond in a different way, as we did the other day in Bilbao. [Nico] Gaitan had the best chance, but their goalkeeper did well."
Defender Jose Maria Gimenez adding to his side's injury woes by limping off with a hamstring problem, while Angel Correa appeared to pick up a problem late on after all three substitutes had been used.
Correa had replaced Atletico winger Yannick Carrasco, who kicked over a water bottle on being substituted early following his latest quiet performance.
"Carrasco played the same as the rest of the team," Simeone said. "The game was not good in general, and we must improve, and hope that we play better in the next game."