With the La Liga title racing going down to the wire, Atletico Madrid may be without manager Diego Simeone as the prospect of a three-match ban lingers over the Argentinian.

The 45-year-old was sent off by referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz after appearing to tell a boy to throw a ball onto the pitch as Malaga were counter-attacking in first-half injury-time.

The move came to nothing but it didn't stop the officials from making the decision to send Simeone to the stands for the second half, despite the Atletico boss protesting his innocence.

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone watches from the stands after being sent off by the referee

As Malaga were counter-attacking in the first half, another ball was thrown onto the pitch

Luckily the ball didn't prevent the away side fromwaste is stored in the south mine, officials said.

Officials said fire suppression systems were immediately activated, all waste handling operations were suspended, and rescue teams were deployed.

The repository takes plutonium-contaminated waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory and defense projects. The waste is then buried in rooms cut from underground salt beds.

WIPP is the nation's only deep geological nuclear repository, and its license gets renewed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency every five years, said Rod McCullum, the director of used-fuels programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Nevada's Yucca Mountain is another underground site built as a potential repository for used nuclear fuel, but it is not operational, McCullum said.

WIPP receives 17 to 19 shipments of waste each week from sites around the country, including Los Alamos and installations in