Del Bosque criticises Costa over Chelsea ban

Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque was far from impressed by Diego Costa’s actions in Chelsea’s win over Arsenal last month.

Costa was hit with a retrospective three-game ban by the Football Association for striking Laurent Koscielny with his arm during the Premier League champions’ ill-tempered 2-0 victory.

The striker has since been left out of the Spain squad for the final Euro 2016 qualifiers against Luxembourg and Ukraine, and while Del Bosque stressed the decision was due to Costa’s one-game ban at international level, he admitted he was not happy to see the 26-year-old’s actions.

“It’s not because he’s been playing badly,” Del Bosque said when explaining why Costa was omitted. “We took the road to this decision irrespective of his ban with Chelsea. We don’t have to make it all about the ban. But I don’t like what he did, of course.”

Del Bosque had words of encouragement for Thiago Alcantara, however, after the Bayern Munich midfielder earned a recall following the calf injury suffered by Andres Iniesta.

“He’s been with us many times before and we hold him in high esteem. He’s a great player and we’re happy with him,” Del Bosque added.

Spain, who need just one more point to qualify for the Euro 2016 finals, host Luxembourg on October 9 before they travel to Kiev three days later.