Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has defended Diego Costa, insisting the striker’s controversial image is unfair.
Mourinho plans to select Costa for today’s Premier League clash at Manchester City despite a continuing hamstring problem.
The Blues boss rejected the suggestion Costa goes after trouble and insists the striker is merely seeking goals after netting seven in his first four Premier League games.
“This is a completely fake point,” Mourinho said. “Maybe it’s a point based on what happened in previous seasons, not what happened here. Here he got the right advice, the right education.
“The referees are there to see the provocation. Diego is trying to play. He’s not afraid of aggressive opponents.
“He doesn’t let other players intimidate him. He’s not there to provoke people. He’s there to play football and to score goals.”
The £32million (Dh191.5m) signing from Atletico Madrid was booked against Everton, whose manager Roberto Martinez criticised the Brazil-born Spain forward for goading Seamus Coleman during the Blues’ 6-3 win, after being shown a yellow card for diving against Burnley when it seemed like a penalty should be awarded.
“He got two yellow cards,” Mourinho said. “One is completely unfair because it was a penalty. The second one because he was provoked for the whole game and he had a little reaction. He’s being completely fair and giving zero problems to referees and behaving very, very well and just worried about playing his football.”
Costa and fellow summer recruit Cesc Fabregas seem to have already developed a fine understanding, the midfielder laying on six assists in his first four Chelsea games.
Fabregas is having the impact Mourinho hoped, having recruited the former Arsenal captain.
“The surprise for me was not that he didn’t go back to Arsenal, the surprise for me was that he was leaving,” Mourinho added. “We had other faces in mind, other players on standby, in case we couldn’t get him. We went without fear.”
Meanwhile, City boss Manuel Pellegrini will attempt to haul his team out of their three-match winless run today. He said: “I don’t think that we started badly. Maybe the game we lost against Stoke that was an unusual game, but we hope we recover, playing at home, and get three points today.”
