Diego Costa’s bizarre antics towards the end of Saturday’s Premier League game with Leicester City took the gloss off what was a comprehensive 3-0 victory for Chelsea against the reigning champions at Stamford Bridge.
Costa, the top flight’s leading goalscorer with seven goals, remained a constant threat after giving the Blues an early lead in the seventh minute, and was the subject of plenty of tough-tackling attention from the visitors every time he was in possession.
Given that he was one booking away from an immediate suspension, and mindful of the fact that Chelsea’s next opponents are Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, many supporters thought that Antonio Conte would withdraw Costa and thereby avoid any possible scenario that could have resulted in a yellow card and a ban for the United game. But evidently, Conte had other ideas, unfazed by such a possibility as Costa remained on the pitch.
In the 67th minute of the match, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri made a double substitution with his side down 2-0, replacing Ahmed Musa and Jeffrey Schulpp with Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani. Conte countered by sending Nathaniel Chalobah on in place of Pedro and switching from a 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2, with Eden Hazard up front alongside Costa. Conte, his usual animated self, barked instructions from the technical area to ensure his players were aware of the tactical revision. A couple of minutes later, Costa was seen signalling to the bench with a rolled hands gesture, indicating that he wanted to come off.
The first thought was that he was injured, the second that he was concerned about picking up a yellow and the third that he was unhappy with what Conte was communicating. This latter assumption was subsequently widely reported as being the reason for Costa’s request, though there is a subjective element to this, as the player has remained tight-lipped about the incident.
Conte wouldn’t be drawn on Costa’s reasoning for requesting to be withdrawn, but he made it prescriptively clear after the game that substitutions were 100 percent his call. The Italian manager also revealed that the striker’s importance on the pitch was such that it outweighed the risk factor involved in him getting booked.
All things considered, there was a theatrical box-office element to the Costa-Conte spat — if that’s really what it was — which is certain to be revisited time and again in the buildup to Sunday’s game against United, which is spiced up by Mourinho’s return to the Bridge.
Mourinho and Costa had a much-publicised disagreement during the course of a run-of-the-mill Champions League game against Maccabi Tel Aviv last November. Despite being en route to a 4-0 victory in Israel, Costa was lambasted from the touchline by Mourinho and dropped for Chelsea’s next game away to fierce rivals Tottenham Hotpsur. With the Blues already underperforming and stories of dressing room unrest bubbling away, Mourinho’s decision — coupled with the fact that he had Costa warm up at White Hart Lane but didn’t send him on in the 0-0 draw — didn’t benefit Chelsea’s cause in the slightest. Less than one month later, Mourinho was sacked and Costa was one of the players held accountable for his demise by fans sympathetic to the Special One’s cause.
Costa’s actions in the Leicester game may well prove to be a storm in a tea cup given that Conte’s assertive reaction was tinted with good-natured humour. Nevertheless, the incident provided a timely reminder of the striker’s tempestuous temperament. It remains to be seen what, if anything, the Chelsea manager will do to remind Costa that he calls the shots at Stamford Bridge.
With Mourinho’s mind games a thing of the past, Costa has looked revitalised under Conte and the regular rumours of the striker’s unhappiness with life at the Bridge and desire to move back to former club Atletico Madrid have dissipated. It won’t take much in the way of further insubordination on the part of the player, however, for the tittle-tattle to start again — and it will be interesting to see how this particular battle of wills works out.
For now, it appears to be advantage Conte. But, as has been the case before at Stamford Bridge, that precious commodity of control of the dressing room can easily be wrestled away from the manager and the Italian will need to have his wits about him to avoid going the way of Mourinho.
