Chelsea manager José Mourinho is wanting Diego Costa to be left out of the Spanish national team for their upcoming fixtures next month.
The Brazilian-born striker was on the scoresheet again for Chelsea on Saturday as he scored the second of Chelsea’s three goals in their comfortable home win over Aston Villa to keep them top of the Premier League.
Diego Costa has now scored eight goals in his first six Premier League games, despite manager José Mourinho saying that he has been struggling with a hamstring injury to start the season.
The Blues boss has not confirmed whether Costa is going to start their UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday at Sporting Club in Lisbon. Previous suggestions from the Portuguese manager suggest he won’t be fit enough to start.
Speaking after his side’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa yesterday, Mourinho pleaded with Spain national team head coach Vicente del Bosque not to call up his £32 million striker next month:
“He [Costa]’s doing almost nothing, just resting and recovering from the tight muscle he has every time he accumulates fatigue.
“If he doesn’t go to the national team and stays here for 15 days, just in treatment, recovering and making the muscle stronger, he has the perfect chance to be in top condition for Chelsea and the national team.”
Spain travel to Slovakia on Thursday 9 October and then Luxembourg on Sunday 12 October – both Euro 2016 qualifiers. With or without Diego Costa, the back-to-back European Champions can be expected to pick up six points from those fixtures.
Surely a private phone call from Mourinho to del Bosque to explain the situation will be all that is required from the experienced coach to do what is best for the players long-term future, whilst having several other options capable of scoring against and beating the lower-ranked opponents.
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