Diego Costa, the English Premier League's top-scorer, failed to make the score sheet in Tuesday's second leg semi final game between Chelsea and Liverpool, but he definitely left his mark on the game. LITERALLY, that is.
The former Atletico Madrid man was in the heat of all the scuffles when the Blues hosted the Merseyside club. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Anfield, the Stamford Bridge tie needed an 94th minute header from Branislav Ivanovich to break the deadlock, sending Mourinho's crew into the finals in a 2-1 aggregate win.
In the first half of the match, Costa was involved in a confrontation with Liverpool's Emre Can after he had stamped on the German midfielder's ankle. However, match referee Michael Olivier failed to spot the foul and Diego walked away without even a booking, let alone a red card.
And that was not the only incidence. The 26-year-old Spaniard, who has been involved in an on-going, heated rivalry with Slovak center-back Martin Skrtel, was also guilty stamping on the Liverpool defender in the first 45 minutes of the game.
Committing two heinous crimes, the world had to wait until the 102nd minute to see Costa get cautioned with a yellow card after throwing his arms around the Reds captain Steven Gerrard, which sparked anger from the former England midfielder.
DISGRACEFUL: Diego Costa was guilty of stamping on two Liverpool players, the first being Emre Can
Then Slovak defender Martin Skrtel
The Chelsea striker then got booked after having a spat with Steven Gerrard in the 102nd minute of the game
Two stamps by Costa. 8 more and he'll get a free coffee! pic.twitter.com/Uj2PDh0fcb
— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) January 27, 2015
Diego Costa has misunderstood the concept of STAMP collecting #DiegoCosta #LFc #Stamp pic.twitter.com/5fZoRTYyu7
— Wio (@ColoWio) January 27, 2015
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, however, had a difference in opinion on how things played out. Insisting that the incidents were accidental, he went on the attack, claiming there to be a campaign against his £32m striker.
“He goes to the ball, he chases it, the opponent goes to the floor and he puts his foot there when he is looking at the ball,” the Portuguese boss said.
“I don’t know what you understand by a stamp," Mourinho added. "Maybe you are already influenced by the campaign on the television with certain pundits saying Costa has committed a crime — the guy who says that must be nuts.”
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, however, believes that Costa should have been sent off for his actions. The Northern Irishman also expressed disbelief that the referee and his assistants were unable to spot the two fouls, saying:
“They clearly didn’t [see]. Should he have had a red card? That’s up to the officials. It certainly would have been. It wasn’t good for the game. The referee didn’t see it. It’s not my job to tell him. It’s disappointing when you see such a good player behave like that.”
Given that Costa was not punished by the referee, he could be facing punishment from the FA and could miss Saturday's all-important clash with Manchester City.
