'You're a coward!' - Jordi Alba's furious rant to referee after Inter Miami shockingly eliminated from MLS playoffs by Atlanta United

Miami exited the MLS playoffs on Saturday following a 3-2 loss to Atlanta at Chase Stadium. Former Barcelona left-back was naturally disappointed about the defeat but he and his team-mates were livid that the official didn't award the Herons a first-half penalty and Atlanta scored their third when defender Tomas Aviles was seemingly down injured. The Spaniard also questioned the format of the competition after topping the Eastern Conference in the regular season.

According to Mundo Deportivo, the 35-year-old told the referee twice during the contest, "You're a coward, you're a coward."

After the match, Alba said: "We have been the most consistent team, beating the points record, but what we wanted was to win this playoff. I'm not going to be the one to change the format now, but it seems a little unfair to me. It's been done this way for many years, that's clear. But if you ask me, I think it should be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other."

He then gave a somewhat backhanded compliment to Atlanta, adding, "Congratulations to the rival team, who competed very well against us, we already knew what their weapons are. The goalkeeper (Brad Guzan) was spectacular, he stopped everything and more and he was clearly the one who marked the tie. We did some things well but also some things badly."

Indeed, Alba's Miami finished the regular season with a record 74 points from 34 matches in the Eastern Conference to win the Supporters' Shield. But they fell at the first round of the playoffs this weekend. Miami will have to wait until 2025 to try and win this competition for the first time.

Alba and his Miami team-mates will have to stew on this defeat for many months as the next MLS season will not start until February 2025. His contract runs until the end of this year but the club have an option to extend that by a further 12 months. Whether that is exercised remains to be seen.