Friday, March 29, 2024

Mourinho salutes Costa character

SoccerNews in English Premier League 15 Sep 2014

57 Views

Jose Mourinho has praised the character of in-form Chelsea striker Diego Costa for playing through the pain barrier.

Costa has been an instant hit at Stamford Bridge since arriving in a big-money move from Atletico Madrid, taking his tally to seven goals in his first four Premier League by scoring a hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Swansea City.

The Spain international’s form is even more impressive considering he has been struggling with a hamstring issue that threatened to keep him out of Chelsea’s top-flight fixtures with Everton and Swansea.

The same issue affected Costa during the recent international break, when the striker managed to participate in the 1-0 friendly defeat to France, but was unable to feature in Spain’s 5-1 defeat of Macedonia in their Euro 2016 qualifying opener.

Chelsea boss Mourinho revealed that he considered resting Costa against Swansea in order to safeguard his fitness, but the 25-year-old was keen to play.

“The most important thing of a player’s character is what affects his performance as a player,” Mourinho is quoted as saying by the British press.

“Diego was a risk and a doubt before Everton, a risk and a doubt before Spain, a risk and a doubt before this Swansea game and he played all three games.

“He is a risk and a doubt again for next Wednesday against Schalke [in the UEFA Champions League] because of an accumulation of matches, but nobody can stop him.

“I tried to rest him, I tried to be sure, to be 100 per cent sure, but he goes on. He is a fantastic character. If the injury is a clear injury of course he will not play, but when the doubt is there and he has not the best feelings, but he feels he can play,”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SoccerNews

Soccernews.com is news blog for soccer with comprehensive coverage of all the major leagues in Europe, as well as MLS in the United States. In addition we offer breaking news for transfers and transfer rumors, ticket sales, betting tips and offers, match previews, and in-depth editorials.

You can follow us on Facebook: Facebook.com/soccernews.com or Twitter: @soccernewsfeed.

SHARE OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

WE RECOMMEND

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This field is required *

Join the conversation!

or Register

Live Scores

advertisement

Betting Guide Advertisement

advertisement

Become a Writer
More More
Top