Chelsea face a nervous wait over Diego Costa after the Premier League’s top scorer pulled out of Spain duty with a troublesome groin problem.
The in-form centre forward will return to London for further assessment — missing games against Macedonia and England at Wembley for his country.
Costa had been visibly limping as he missed the first two days of Spain training this week after reporting discomfort in his groin on joining up with his international team-mates.
Spain manager Julen Lopetegui talked up the firebrand centre forward’s prospects of featuring against Macedonia this week but he has now been forced to withdraw from the squad.
However, the La Roja boss did concede that he held concerns about Costa’s recovery time, with the player missing training on Tuesday and Wednesday after complaining of the problem upon arrival at Las Rozas headquarters.
Lopetegui said on Wednesday: ‘It’s true that his recovery has not been as positive as we had expected.’
Chelsea’s medical department have been in touch with Spain as they monitor their star striker’s situation.
Former Liverpool striker Iago Aspas, now of Celta Vigo, has been called up as Costa’s replacement.
Any spell on the sidelines for Costa would be troublesome for Chelsea given the excellent form he has started the season in.
Under Antonio Conte, the 28-year-old has fired nine goals in 11 Premier League games with back-up striker Michy Batshuayi yet to start in the league.
Costa has started three of Lopetegui’s four games in charge of Spain since the former Porto boss took over from Vicente del Bosque, scoring three goals.
The striker was on the receiving end of a robust challenge from Everton defender Seamus Coleman in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Ronald Koeman’s side, but concern for Costa’s is not believed to be linked to that incident.
Costa’s presence at Spain’s Las Rozas headquarters just outside of Madrid was brief, after he missed training on Tuesday and Wednesday complaining of a bruised groin.
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